Once More
by Gone Wanderlust
Summary: Kurosaki. A name that he held in reverence, and a name he'd tried to live up to. It had been his own, but...no more. He couldn't be a Kurosaki any longer. He'd long since lost the right. He could place the blame elsewhere, Aizen was the start, but he wouldn't. It had been he that had failed in the end. He was the reason they died...but...he would make it right. No matter the cost.
1. Into the Breach

**Disclaimer - I do not own anything from Bleach**

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><p>Warnings: AU, Time Travel, Ichigo-centric, violence, language<p>

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><p><strong>Authors note:<strong> **Hey everyone, if you decide to read this before jumping into my first fic then I just want to say welcome to my story. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Like I said this is my first fic, and while I have been on FF for a long time now I will admit that it took a long time for me to muster up the courage to actually write one of my own. As this is a fic, and as all of you know it is impossible to make money off of, this is really a labor of love for me. With that in mind, I hope you all can respect that. I do not mind flames, but constructive criticism is definitely preferred on any given day. **

**You guys can skip this next part if you want, it's just my thanks to some important people. **

**Firstly, I'd like to thank cywscross for being the bad mofo that he/she is, and being the one to inspire me in the first place to write. Everyone should take a look at his work. Secondly, I'd like to thank my beta-reader Isaac, Geta-boshi, Garrus Vakarian what have you for doing such a wonderful job with helping to spot my mistakes, and keep me in check when I was being a loon with my writing. He really is my best friend. Finally, and probably most importantly, thanks mom. You got the short end of the stick when you had me, and you have put up with me the longest. I don't think I would have made it this far without ya.**

**Anyway, here it is folks. Enjoy!**

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><p>Chapter 1: Into the Breach<p>

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><p>Somewhere along the way, something went wrong. They took a wrong turn. The point they went wrong couldn't be discerned, but the results were plain as day. Ten years of blood given, tears shed, lives lost, and the decisions made that sacrificed thousands in the place of millions. The way they stubbornly pressed on, following one man to hopefully see the end, even as their entire world crumbled and fell apart around them. Despite all the camaraderie, despite the losses, and despite the desperate way they banded together to save the world.<p>

It hadn't been enough.

They had lost.

The war was over.

The new self-proclaimed spirit king Aizen Sosuke ruled, and though that rule rested upon a throne of corpses, an army of hollows, and a broken afterlife, it mattered not to him.

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><p>The rain came down heavily on the dried soil, soaking the dust, and seeping into the cracked earth. It did little good. Nothing green remained, no trees, no grass. Only dust. What remained of the rukongai stretched on, broken and barren of life. Water fell to it despite this, attempting to breathe life back into a world that would never feel its touch again. Where once ramshackle housing stood, now only broken beams and charred framework remained. Hollows stalked the shadows, mad with hunger and unchecked in their fruitless hunt. Off in the distance, almost beyond the horizon, the once shining city of the Seireitei loomed. Seki seki stone walls crumbling despite their nature, division barracks reduced to blasted out craters, and embers still glowing from the fires that hadn't quite died out, yet soon to be put out by the rain.<p>

The droplets pinged off of the metal cover that led down to Kisuke's secret labs. Labs sequestered deep beneath the 78th district of the northern rukongai that had been in his possession long before his exile, and the last place that could be considered safe for either of them.

"Ichigo, I just-"

"No, Kisuke," Ichigo cut him off, voice cold as ice. His expression firmly shuttered, not giving even a hint of what he was truly feeling away.

Kisuke's face fell, and he tried his best to suppress the shudder that racked his body. 'Why did it have to turn out like this?' he asked himself for the thousandth time.

He knew why though. He could never forget why. It was because he'd failed. Just like all the times before. He'd let them all down one way or another.

Kisuke knew that he had always had skewed morals, that he'd do what others would see as unethical or wrong if it suited his needs or the situation demanded it. Despite all this, no matter how much of a manipulative man he knew himself to be, he always tried to take responsibilities for his failings.

Like right now.

No matter what happened from here on, no matter what came of the world, and no matter how many times he'd failed in the past several hundred years of his life. He'd never be able to fail anyone more than he had failed Ichigo.

Especially after what he was about to do, Ichigo's request or not.

He cringed at the thought of it.

He felt so tired. He felt _old_.

It wasn't just the type of weariness that came from long nights guarding those closest to him, or a desperate one spent elbow deep in one of his inventions meant to help salvage the broken world they lived in. It was a weariness that he doubted he'd ever shake off. His face twisted minutely into a grimace. One he couldn't hide behind his signature fan. He'd lost that thing years ago, along with his precious hat.

He supposed he'd lost a lot of things far more precious to him over the years.

A cuff to his head made him stumble forward a step, and he dragged his attention back to Ichigo.

Ichigo was looking at him now, no doubt aware of Kisuke's self-loathing, and the measure of understanding and slight warmth on Ichigo's face and in his eyes made him well up with shame. He didn't deserve that warmth.

"Stop it Kisuke," he reprimanded quietly, and there was a hint of resignation in his voice that Kisuke was able to pick up on, "You know there isn't any other way."

Oh, he knew. He wished he didn't, that maybe he could come up with some other alternative, but they didn't have the time. Part of him still wished that this was some fucked up dream that he couldn't wake up from. There was nothing for it though. Aizen was still searching for them, and it was only a matter of time before he found these labs as well.

Just because there was no other way didn't make it right. Well, morality didn't make a difference to him really. Being right or wrong had never stopped him before.

Just because there wasn't any other way didn't mean he could do it to _Ichigo_. That was what gave him pause.

It wasn't fair he thought as Ichigo turned away to stalk across the dimly lit room they occupied, graceful lethality in every step, Kisuke's final invention looming over the both of them in the darkness.

It wasn't fair for Ichigo.

He huffed a dry laugh in the privacy of his own mind. No real humor in it. His expression threatening to break again into that familiar shadowed helpless dismay.

When had it ever been fair for Ichigo?

The damp air clung to them both like a cloak as they walked, Kisuke trailing a little behind Ichigo. They came to a stop before the arched device that rested against the wall, both gazing at it, knowing what it meant for them.

When it came to science or his inventions, for Kisuke the sky had always been the limit. He tried many things, tinkered away in his labs for years, and built marvels that no one had ever understood long before the threat of Aizen had reared its ugly head. He pushed the boundaries of knowledge, and advanced in directions that none of them had expected. Yet, even he could never have anticipated doing _this._

Time travel was a stretch, but he'd done it in the end.

Kisuke had thrown everything he had into this. Every ounce of his scientific knowledge, every strip of known kido theory, and he even took into account several of the theories that the human's had managed to come up with. It was the only hope either of them had now that they stood at the end together, and over the course of the journey Ichigo had become the closest friend he'd ever really had. Different from Yoruichi in many respects, she was the woman he'd grown up with and would always be his best friend, but Ichigo had become his one true companion over the past eleven years he'd had him around. Ichigo knew him. Ichigo knew Kisuke just like Kisuke knew Ichigo. Ichigo, amazingly enough, was the only one that could see straight through any façade he put up aside from Yoruichi herself.

Of course it took him awhile to get there, but in the eyes of souls to be able to see through Kisuke's machinations after only a few years was an astounding accomplishment.

An accomplishment that Kisuke would always appreciate, for if Ichigo hadn't, than Kisuke probably would have been stuck puppet mastering his way through everything, and would have never come to know and understand what true friendship was like.

That was why Kisuke had thrown everything he had into getting this right. It wasn't just to save the world, or to fix all his own mistakes, or even to get revenge against Aizen

It was for Ichigo.

No matter how wrong it felt, or how Ichigo would essentially be exiling himself from everything he'd ever known, or how Kisuke would lose the only person he had left.

It was because he knew that Ichigo would gladly trade all the friendships he'd made, all the memories he had, and give up on the world he knew today just to save those dear to him.

In Ichigo's mind it was better to have them all alive and ignorant of this horrible future, than dead in a world ruled by a madman. While that would obviously be the better choice by far, that didn't make it hurt any less.

For as long as Kisuke had known him, Ichigo always had a penchant for self-sacrifice, and now was no different even when there was only him around to know and witness it.

He glanced to the side, and looked at the 26 year old next to him. So mind-bogglingly young, and yet looking so heartbreakingly old it made him want to cry.

Ichigo had really grown into himself over the years. He was so different now compared to the brash, loud mouthed, rush-in-sword-swinging child he'd first met years ago. He'd used to share exasperated yet fond conversations with Yoruichi over Ichigo back when they'd first started his training. Over how he'd hadn't the slightest clue what the concept of control was, or how he couldn't strategize his way out of a paper bag. The bullheaded youth had given both him and Yoruichi an equal share of headaches with his ridiculous tendencies.

At least, back when she'd still been alive.

He shut his eyes and clamped down hard on that train of thought before it could go any further. Now wasn't the time to take a trip down memory lane.

He looked over at Ichigo once more. He'd filled out, now standing near 6' 5" and with the muscle mass to match. He was built for speed though as he'd always been, so he still maintained that lean figure. Too lean in Kisuke's opinion, as if he wasn't getting enough to eat. His hair had grown out as well. The spiky mass of orange locks were longer and tamer now than they had been years ago, with the tips reaching down past the nape of his neck and slightly shadowing his eyes. With his now controlled reiatsu he'd managed to seal his zanpakuto too. A black hilted katana and a wakizashi both in equally black sheaths now rested on either side of his waist, instead of the hulking khyber knife and accompanying smaller blade he'd carried when perpetually stuck in shikai.

He carried himself differently too. His gait was more fluid now, nothing about him wasting movement. It was graceful in a way completely different from a dancer. Every step looked to be carefully placed, every move, and every action carrying an air of exact purpose to it. He looked like an assassin garbed in black, or a panther hunting its prey. It was masculine grace not born from nobility or breeding, but 10 bloody years of combat and instincts honed to a razor's edge.

Yet, despite that grace he had an entirely different edge to him as well. An edge that made Kisuke stay up late at night privately lamenting. War had hardened Ichigo. Hardened him the same way it did many, but to an understandably worse extent. Losing everyone you knew and cared about, and watching the very world burn down to its roots did that to a person, and it showed in the way he carried himself. He looked like the weight of the world itself rested upon his shoulders.

Well, in a way it did.

He knew that after coming this far there was almost no chance of him succeeding in persuading Ichigo to stop now. However, even with his failed attempt earlier, that didn't mean he wouldn't give it at least one more try. He really couldn't help it, he'd lost his ability to be or even act insouciant when it came to Ichigo.

"Ichigo listen to me," he said, and his tone held an uncharacteristically pleading edge to it, "You know what this will do. This is madness, and you know it. I know you want them back just as much as I do, but the people you'll be getting back won't be _your people._ Besides, they wouldn't want you to go through with this, and if they were here now they certainly wouldn't let you!"

His volume had risen as he spoke, trying his best to covey what his heart was screaming at him, and he paused to rein himself back in.

"I'm begging you, just give me more time," he said in a much quieter tone, "I can think of another less insane way. Just because this is all we have now doesn't mean you have to go through with it. Aizen will fall, I promise, but this isn't the way it needs to be done. You _don't_ have to go through with this."

Ichigo's shoulders rose the more Kisuke spoke, slowly inching upward with each word, and by the end he was completely tense. Kisuke watched as countless emotions warred in Ichigo's eyes, and his expression became darker with each. For a fraction of a second he thought he might have gotten through to Ichigo, but in an instant that dreaded hope shattered when Ichigo's jaw firmed and the resolve he was known for surfaced once again.

"Yes I do Kisuke," Ichigo countered sharply, voice cold steel, "I have to. I'd never forgive myself if I'd known the option was there and I didn't take it."

A few moments passed until Ichigo spoke up once more, voice dark, and haunting shadows dancing across his eyes, "I let them down Kisuke, I failed all of them, and I'll be _damned_ if I don't make it right."

Oh hell. Kisuke knew that look.

'So this is it then' Kisuke thought. He knew that no matter what he said there was no stopping Ichigo now.

Sending Ichigo back was a crime. A crime that Ichigo himself insisted Kisuke commit. Ichigo had been dragged through a war he had no business fighting in, he had been a _human_ _teenager_ for crying out loud, and now Kisuke was going to send him back. Back ten years to the very beginning to do it all over again.

He got to work despite this. Busying his mind with calibrations so as not to think on it, even though he knew he wouldn't be able to.

He was torn in so many directions. He didn't want to send Ichigo back, didn't want to lose the only friend he had left. Call it selfish, but there wasn't anything left for him to hold onto. At the same time he wanted to go back with him, but he didn't think his heart could stand the sight of a sea of familiar faces on unfamiliar people. They'd both made bonds throughout the war with everyone who was now dead, and just because they were dead now didn't mean those bonds didn't still exist. To go back and face all those people, knowing all of them as intimately as they did now only to have none of them reciprocate that….

He hated himself for this. He hated himself for a lot of things, but he truly hated himself above all for pushing it all onto Ichigo, but Ichigo had insisted that not only he go back but he that go back _alone. _Effectively making the choice for Kisuke.

Part of him was immensely grateful to Ichigo for that, and also amazed that Ichigo knew him so well even now.

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><p>The open portal roiled behind Ichigo casting his silhouette in its light.<p>

Kisuke eyed him critically from a few feet away, "Don't attack Aizen the first chance you get Ichigo. You'll only have one shot at a surprise attack. We both know how much stronger than Aizen you will be now with him not being fused with the Hogyoku, but you must stay your hand until the right moment. It never hurts to take any advantage you can."

Kisuke paused for a moment, and Ichigo didn't doubt that his mind was tearing through countless scenarios trying to give Ichigo the best parting advice he could give.

"Also, make sure that Aizen shows his hand first. He needs to openly betray the Gotei 13 before you make your move. I know from personal experience that Aizen has failsafe after failsafe in place to protect him from any backlash should his work be discovered. If you kill him before he acts then you'll just be seen as a rogue who killed one of soul society's most "charismatic" captains. One random shinigami madly babbling about betrayal and the world ending with the blood of a captain on his hands isn't likely to gain you any friends Ichigo."

Ichigo scoffed internally, but didn't attempt to stop Kisuke. He knew all of this already, and had already resigned himself to all of these facts. Aizen living a little longer than he would have liked wasn't that big of a price to pay in return for peace, and the lives of his family and friends.

Ichigo knew what Kisuke was doing though. Kisuke needed to do this. He needed to know that if Ichigo was going to go it alone then he'd done everything he could to make sure he was ready. Ichigo was content to let it drag on for as long as Kisuke needed.

They stood in silence for a while, Kisuke's rant having ended about ten minutes ago.

"You don't have to worry anymore, alright?" Ichigo said, voice quiet with the accompanying hum of the machine, "I know you and Aizen were pretty close. In the way only worst enemies can be, (Kisuke snorted audibly at that) but I know him well enough too. I know how the mad-man thinks, or at least I can guess what he'll do for the time being. You and I both know he didn't fall completely off the deep end until later in the war. Ten years ago, he was still following a logical pattern of thinking. I can work with that, so don't worry."

'Not worry huh?' Kisuke thought idly, well that was going to be hard to do.

Ichigo must have seen it in his eyes, because he spoke up once more.

"I'll handle it," Ichigo said, resolve thrumming through his words this time, and carrying a weight that assured Kisuke more than the words themselves.

"I know you will Ichigo," Kisuke replied.

Oh he knew alright. Aizen didn't stand a chance. He'd pity the guy if he didn't hate him so much.

They didn't say goodbye. They didn't need to really, or particularly want to. The only thing Ichigo said before he walked through the portal was with a quick glance over his shoulder. He leveled Kisuke with one last look. A look that spoke volumes between the two.

"Get some rest Kisuke."

Then he was gone.

Kisuke turned off the machine, and let his hands fall to his sides wearily.

That overwhelming exhaustion from earlier hit him again tenfold.

In the distance, down the shaft that led to the ladder up to the surface, he could hear the screams and roars making their way to him.

He had always known that the energy needed to power the machine would be what gave their location away. Ichigo hadn't, but that wasn't the point.

'Oh well,' he thought with one last grin, grasping Benihime in his hand as she turned from cane to Zanpakuto. She woke with an indignant flare of power, no doubt in a snit at being woken up again, but she quieted soon after. She knew what lay ahead of them.

Thinking back on Ichigo's parting words, he couldn't help but agree. He was tired after all, and it was about time he got some rest. He'd said once upon a time that he would 'sleep when he was dead' so the situation really fit. Living was a chore and a half.

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><p>The world Ichigo knew shattered as soon as he stepped through the gate. What he once knew wasn't even present in this place. Upon reflection, Ichigo would one day muse that it was a dimension of contradictions. A place so distinctly different from the precipice world, or the unending oblivion of a garganta, that they couldn't even be compared. At the time though, he didn't really have a chance to think about it.<p>

Ichigo yelled for all he was worth.

Up was down, and right was left, flames froze and crumpled like snowflakes and water burned like hellfire upon the tongue. Where the tiniest whisper shattered hearing, and Ichigo's incessant cries were but tiny fractions of their true volume. Where his shadow glowed like the sun, and where the stars hid away between the blackness in the seams of the sky. A dimension that showed only the truth of existence for this was what came before the _beginning,_ and what would resume after the _end_.

This was a place that Ichigo did _not _belong in.

He crumpled where he stood, but lost any sense of direction on his way to the ground. His sense of direction had been obliterated in this world he realized in the back of his consciousness. Even that thought was soon lost in the void, as he struggled to keep some semblance of himself intact from the searing, crushing, blinding, never-ending _end._

He dropped all pretense of containing his reiatsu and forced it out of his body in waves, keeping it from rising into transcendence, but still shaking the world around him. He was trying, and failing, to create a buffer between him and the force attempting to erase him from whatever world this was.

Then abruptly, it was over.

A blink. Two blinks.

The sun was shining overhead, positioned a little later than mid-day, and the subtle sounds of a world that made sense drifted through his ears. The grass tickled his neck, and he gaped for a moment at seeing something green and living once more.

The higher functions of his mind were scattered to the four winds for a few moments, but once he regained his sense of self the first thing he did was clamp down on his cataclysmic reiatsu that poured from him into the world like a broken faucet. He looked around from his position on his back, and saw that the majority of the clearing that he was in was crushed beneath the weight of his spiritual pressure, and that black tendrils of his power still clung to some of the surfaces. Without conscious thought he had cleared a stretch of land for several hundred meters all around, tearing deep gashes into the ground in the process.

He sighed internally. If people weren't aware of his presence when he'd first landed here, then they sure were now.

He could feel Zangetsu's presence in his mind even though he didn't speak. Deigning to instead send a wave of concern to Ichigo. He faintly smiled at that, or more like lessened his scowl for a few moments. It always felt good to know that someone had his back, especially now.

He moved to sit up, and then cursed silently when he gave out at the waist and collapsed back down again onto the grass. His hands instinctively fell to his black tachi after that, one hand on his katana and the other on his wakizashi, just for something to ground him to reality for a moment as vertigo roughly slapped him in the face.

'_**Easy aibou,' **_his hollow, Shiro, jeered, _**'We just got here, don't ya die on us just yet.'**_

Ichigo didn't even grace that with a reply. He had long since gotten used to his inner-hollow's incessant taunts from the back of his mind. They never had any real fire to them anymore, not since they'd come to their agreement. Besides, he had much more important things to do, like finding out just where the hell Kisuke ended up dumping his ass.

Once more he attempted to lever himself to his feet, and this time he made it. That didn't last long however.

Darkness crept into his sight as he lost feeling in his legs. They shook under his weight, and his knees abruptly gave out. The ground rushed up to meet him once more as he succumbed to the numbing feeling in his mind. The last thing he remembered were Shiro's frantic calls of his name, and Zangetsu rushing to the front of his consciousness desperately attempting to revive him.

His grip on his reiatsu broke once more, this time involuntarily, and his output tore straight up to the heavens and clean into the stratosphere. Transcendence came several seconds later, his signature disappearing without a trace.

He was lost to them within seconds.

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><p>Soutaichou Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto drank his tea slowly. He didn't rush himself, for when it came to things such as his tea at mid-day there was little else more important. Life was not meant to be wasted worrying over the little things as some of his younger captains were apt at doing.<p>

The work would always be there.

However, that is not to say that the work should not be done. Something he doubted Shunsui would ever learn. It would be completed without fail, but other things took precedence sometimes.

Such as excellent tea.

Chojiro had outdone himself today he mused. His fukutaichou Chojiro Sasakibe, ever faithful friend and steadfast disciple, always did his best to assist Genryusai in whatever capacity was deemed necessary.

Such as making excellent tea.

He sipped from his cup once more, its aroma wafting up to his nose, and then settled further into his seat. The sun streamed in, and off in the distance the sight of the sokyoku hill loomed. A gentle breeze wafted in through the open window, and he contemplated once more how truly quiet soul society was now-a-days.

He did this often, for after living for thousands of years and guarding the souls of the afterlife for so long, he was prone to introspection when he found himself alone. Nothing really changed anymore, and the years did indeed blur together. The Quincy War was from a time lost to many now.

Of course, if he were to leave his office to walk amongst his subordinates, he'd see a much different picture. He knew that down amongst the other divisions the youngsters were probably running amok. Rushing this way and that all unable to appreciate the here and now. He sighed quietly, something he also only did when he was alone.

'Silly children,' he thought, perhaps they'd understand one day.

The thought held no real malice, only exasperation gained from personal experience with the hot headed young shinigami he commanded.

He was happy though, despite all this. All was right with the world, hollow attacks were down within the outer districts, and missions to the living world were running smoothly. Although, from what he had heard, a war was being waged within the human world.

That news did little to ruffle him. The humans were always at war with their own people. It seemed every time he turned around they were slaughtering each other, which of course meant another mass surge of souls entering the afterlife. More possible recruits for Shin'o Academy?

A soft knock at the door heralded a few of his captains, causing him to sit up straight, put down his tea, and fold his hands.

"Enter," his called in his gruff tenor.

As with every Saturday, he called several of his most senior captains to meet with him privately and review the past week. Unohana Retsu, 4th division taichou and head of the medical division, stepped though his door first. A gentle smile adorned her face, something quite at odds with the picture she painted years ago.

"Good afternoon Soutaichou," she greeted kindly.

She moved forward into the room, and made room for his _other_ two most senior taichou to enter.

"Maa yama-jii, can we get this show on the road? The bar district is already getting crowded."

If the captain-commander was anyone else he would have rolled his eyes.

Instead, Yamamoto cracked open an eye and pinned his 8th division captain Kyoraku Shunsui with a _look. _

Shunsui deflated visibly, his expression souring. Jushirou Ukitake, his 13th division captain, watched on with a familiar indulgent amusement as Shunsui, his best friend, show cased his idiocy for all the world to see.

Sometimes he wondered why he kept Shunsui around.

His horrendous laziness, terrible drinking habits, and his desire to wear that ridiculous _pink _kimono over his captain's haori may have been one of the many causes for Genryusai's baldness. It was _vexing_.

Despite that, every time he questioned his choice in captain, he always remembers why.

Despite his childishness, Shunsui is and always has been an extremely powerful shinigami in his own right, a good leader, and the closest thing Genryusai has to a son. The both of them, Shunsui and Jushirou, are sons to him really. Though whether they were aware of that remained to be seen, and he certainly wouldn't be the one to tell them, not yet at least.

With Shunsui sufficiently cowed he turned back to the matter at hand.

"Unohana-taichou," he began, his voice rumbling and filling his office to the corners, sparking the beginning of the meeting.

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><p>The meeting droned on well past mid-day, and he had to wake Shunsui several times with his targeted spiritual pressure. Every time he'd wake with a start, prompting his sakkat to fall from its perch, and the meeting to be halted in order to bring the fool up to speed.<p>

Exasperation couldn't even begin to describe Yamamoto.

At least he had a steady supply of tea to keep his nerves from fraying.

Very little could truly startle the Soutaichou, and even less could upset him. He couldn't remember the last time he'd actually been surprised. Soul King aside, he was the rock that had kept the afterlife from falling to pieces after all these years, and if anyone needed to maintain a calm composure at all times then it was him.

That didn't stop him from opening an eye, and raising an eyebrow when his lieutenant Chojiro came stumbling through his door interrupting Jushirou mid-report. Chojiro was out of breath, wide eyes locked on him, and looking highly alarmed.

Well, this was unlike Chojiro. His lieutenant was composed on the worst of days. For him to be riled up over _anything_ it had to be with good reason.

He waited without speaking for Chojiro to regain his lost composure. The other taichous stared avidly, but did not speak either. Shunsui even raised his head, and peered over from beneath his sakkat. When Chojiro finally spoke, it was when Yamamoto's tea cup was halfway to his mouth.

"Soutaichou, the 12th division taichou Kirio Hikifune has just reported an unknown energy signature from somewhere beyond the outer districts. Some type of-"

Chojiro didn't get the chance to finish.

Nothing could prepare them for the wave of spiritual pressure that hit them simultaneously.

Chojiro fell to his knees as they buckled beneath him, and he was soon joined by a wide eyed Retsu who had also unfortunately been standing. Shunsui Kyoraku was wide awake now.

Soutaichou Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto opened both of his eyes wide.

His tea cup fell from his hand to shatter on the wooden floor.

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><p><em>Shadows danced at the corner of his vision despite the inky blackness of the room. They crept closer whenever he looked away. His mind screamed at the water to stop. His neck ached from the constant swivel as he desperately tried to see all the room's corners at once. He didn't have to try very hard. Being chained to a wall strung up by his wrists made it so that two corners were always in his sight. Yet the shadows still danced, and that incessant dripping never stopped. Like footsteps approaching from nowhere. His instincts were telling him lies. He'd always trusted his instincts. They were lying. <em>_**Why**__ were they lying? His head whipped around so fast he probably gave himself whiplash. He had seen it. The water dripped, footsteps slow and steady. Footsteps that meant that he was coming back. _

Ichigo woke with a start, eyes wild and a strangled cry dying in his throat. He attempted to spring to his feet out reflex, and instantly regretted it.

He fell back down again, but managed to remain sitting upright this time. He jammed his fingers into his mane of orange hair, and busied himself with growling every curse in the book plus a few that weren't.

Zangetsu's steady presence crowded at the front of his mind helped to slow his erratic heart rate. His hand shakily wiped the sweat from his brow, and he drew in a fortifying breath before he let himself collapse back to the soft grass beneath him.

Even when blacking out for who knows how long, and a passing awareness noted that it was nighttime, he _still_ couldn't get a good night's rest. He wasn't surprised really. He hadn't slept well in years.

His head felt like a dead weight after…whatever that trip was.

Unbidden, a memory crawled up of Ikkaku and Renji, and the first time they'd managed to drag him out drinking with them. He sobered at the memory of the two lieutenants instantly, but his mind didn't start working faster because of it.

"_Ichigo__," _Zangetsu's calm tenor called, drawing him away from his slow thoughts, "_We must leave this place. No doubt someone will have sensed you, and we should be as far away from here as possible. You had been unconscious for 2 days."_

WHAT?!

He sat up again immediately, and to his relief he didn't keel over straight away. He agreed with his Zanpakuto, he needed to leave. He could see straight, relatively speaking, his eyes were still having trouble keeping up, but it would do.

Without conscious thought he made to reel his reiatsu back down, and he shook his head when his reiatsu once again began crushing everything around him before fading down to obscurity.

A few seconds later he realized just how bad an idea that had been.

"_Indeed," _Zangetsu's almost exasperated voice said_, "That will have sent out another flare giving our position away. We must go Ichigo."_

He nodded slowly, and decided then and there to let Zangetsu call the shots for a little while. His head wasn't really screwed on straight even after being dead to the world for a few days. It still felt like his brain wasn't going to start up anytime soon.

He slowly clambered to his feet, and scowled harshly down at his still weak legs.

This really wasn't the time for this. Two whole days lost, and who knew how close a shinigami patrol could be. He needed to get the out of there before Aizen caught wind of him, and his whole assassination plot to kill the madman went out the window. He picked his head up and brushed his bangs out of his eyes to scan the clearing. His senses, despite their muddled state, were still sharp enough to tell him exactly where he was.

He snorted minutely at that. He could be blind and deaf and he'd know where he was in a heartbeat. He knew this place well.

It appeared that Kisuke's machine decided to dump him right into the clearing above the labs he had just been occupying. The 78th district held that air about it that would give it away any day. That air of looming death, discarded waste, and violence. He turned toward where he knew civilization lay, and then paused. A stray thought catching him mid-step.

Where was the cover for the entrance to the labs?

"Hurry Ichigo, I can sense several reiatsu signatures approaching. They will be here within the hour_."_

With the state it was in, Ichigo's brain didn't have enough time to connect the pieces. With the ushering of his Zanpakuto, and the howls of his hollow promising pain if he messed up their shot at Aizen, he reached up and grabbed his hood to pull up over his mess of orange locks. He executed a staggering shunpo that gradually picked up speed away from the clearing.

* * *

><p>The 27th head of the Kuchiki Clan and current captain of the 6th division Ginrei Kuchiki darted after the Soutaichou as they shunpoed together towards the outer rukongai. Several of the other taichou followed after, Unohana, Kyoraku, and Ukitake all maintaining pace as they approached the end of their trek.<p>

They had all felt the disturbance from two days ago. In fact, Ginrei wouldn't be surprised if all of soul society had felt the pulse of spiritual energy from the northern outer rim.

At the time, his son and lieutenant Sojun had just walked into his office at their division when it hit them. His son collapsed at the door. He would have rushed to his son's side had he not been pinned in his chair.

It had been an eye opening experience. Never before in all his life as Clan head, or even as a shinigami had he ever felt reiatsu of that magnitude, and judging by the strength he had instantly assumed it was close. Not even the captain commander had ever released so much at one time. Though he rationalized that away with the Soutaichou just never needing to use so much. In the several hundred years Ginrei had worked for him he had never seen the Soutaichou fight without holding back. He doubted that the Soutaichou would ever release his full strength unless the impossible happened, like if several Vasto-lorde suddenly decided to appear in the Rukongai.

Though the thought that something out there existed that could wield such strength did give him pause. He trusted the Soutaichou unflinchingly, but for something else besides him to have such power was definitely worrisome.

The Soutaichou had summoned him with a hell butterfly almost as soon as the signature had faded away completely, which was swiftly followed by a second pulse which also faded away. Well, not faded away. It had abruptly and curiously vanished without a trace, leaving him to wonder for half a second if it had really existed at all. That thought of course was immediately dismissed. Though he had checked to ensure his son was alright beforehand, he left within seconds of that. Duty always came first in the life of a Kuchiki.

The brief had been swift and succinct, but Ginrei had been floored by the news he was given. He didn't show it, but he had to school his features to hide just how astounded he was.

Apparently, the pulses were coming from the Northern 78th district.

He had assumed that they were close because of their strength, but for them to come from…that should have been impossible.

Though the Captain Commander gave no outward sign of being troubled there were clues to the contrary that Ginrei picked up on.

He had always prided himself on being perceptive in most situations, but this situation didn't take much deduction to see the truth of the matter. The fact that the Soutaichou was bringing with him not only himself and Kyoraku-taichou, but Ukitake-taichou and even Unohana-taichou showed the severity of the situation. In fact, for the Soutaichou to go at all was a sign in itself.

It was a sign of a threat. Ginrei knew that the Soutaichou trusted his subordinates like a leader should, and for him to come himself in place of those subordinates meant that there was something out there that couldn't be handled by anyone but him.

His thoughts returned to the task at hand.

He shunpoed onward, all of them going at a pace well beyond the abilities of any lieutenant or seated officer. He steeled his nerves. He would do his duty, no matter what the case. He was a noble of the Kuchiki House, and upholding the law was a must in any given situation. If whatever they found was a threat in any way to the souls of the afterlife than he would not hesitate to do whatever was necessary.

Before he could continue that train of thought however he was interrupted.

Mid-shunpo he slammed into the grassy floor without warning.

It came abruptly and without even a chance to brace. The unknown reiatsu signature roared back to life, much, _much_ closer than before.

His tekko clad fingers dug into the earth as he struggled to rise to a standing position. With a grunt he pushed out his own spiritual energy to create a buffer, and his scarf whipped around behind him in the resulting wind. Unohana and Ukitake were doing the same, and Kyoraku was already standing once more. The Soutaichou was the only one amongst them that appeared to be unfatigued, his own reiatsu whipping around him to shield him from the unknown weight pressing down on them all.

The unknown pressure let up shortly thereafter, and instead of disappearing like before, it just slowly diminished down to nothing. A minute ticked by in silence before they walked forward this time.

Whatever was out there was close.

He dropped his hand down to his Zanpakuto. He would never show it, and he would definitely never admit it, but Ginrei Kuchiki was…apprehensive of what was to come.

* * *

><p>The further out into the Rukongai you went then the more spaced out the districts became. Forests and other natural features began appearing in the late 50's and out here in the 78th the forests made excellent hiding places not only for hollows, but also bands of criminals.<p>

He lamented that. It had been that way for years sadly. The afterlife was always changing and he, with near 6000 shinigami within the Gotei 13, already lacked the man power needed to police all of the living world's spiritually potent locations for hollows. The afterlife was meant to be a place to rest, and despite there being no other options, he still deplored the way the outer districts had fallen into ruin.

Within half an hour later the Soutaichou came to a stop, a tree line appearing in a deep forest. They had left behind the squalor several minutes ago, but moving at the speed of shunpo meant that they were very far away from civilization in that time frame. For some reason a clearing was here, and it looked like it had been made intentionally. The circle of trees stretched far, and left a wide open space at least 200 meters in diameter. Deep gouges scored the earth and stretched out from a central point at the middle of the clearing. Soil had been forced away into banks, and rocks appeared to have been lifted and overturned in their places. Even larger boulders had been moved. The trees that once stood here had either been blasted away or obliterated.

The clearing was empty though.

He grunted in dissatisfaction and slowly walked toward the center, his zanpakuto, whilst still a cane, ready in his hand. His captains followed after him, Ginrei bringing up the rear, eyes sweeping the shadows beyond the clearing, and Retsu quickening her pace so as to walk beside him. She didn't speak, though he was sure she had questions.

He came to a stop once more at the center of the clearing, and scrutinized what he had slowly become more aware of as he approached.

The foreign reiatsu still permeated the air all around. Whoever had been here was long gone, of that he had no doubt, and from the looks of it they hadn't done anything more than tearing up the earth around them.

That didn't mean that they weren't still a threat. He didn't know why, and he didn't know how, but there was someone out there with so much reiryoku it rivaled, and might even surpass his own.

That alone was unprecedented.

He knew that no other shinigami had come after him that came even close to his level of power. That was why he had remained the Soutaichou for all these thousands of years, because he had yet to find someone capable of taking his place. If ever there was to be someone to take over the seat of captain commander he wouldn't settle for anyone less than someone capable of defending the Soul society single handedly if need be.

For someone to show up now with this level of power, and him not know of them and count them amongst his subordinates or allies…

Something had to be done.

He took his time in studying the reiatsu still in the air that was slowly diminishing by the minute. It wasn't nearly as heavy as before, but now that he was here at the source of the pulses he could study it more easily. Curiously enough, he noted, the reiatsu was heavy, but instead of being oppressive it seemed to wrap around and envelop others. However, at the same time it was dark in nature, and had an almost lingering trace of….._hollow_.

His eyebrow twitched at that. That couldn't be possible. This spiritual energy was most definitely that of a shinigami. So then how?

He turned his eye on Retsu who was no doubt doing the same thing as him. Her expression told him that she had felt it as well.

"I don't understand what I am feeling Soutaichou," she commented softly, her usual serene voice carrying a waver of uncertainty to it to accompany her confused look, "This reiatsu signature doesn't make sense."

He didn't understand it either, and that was what worried him.

He glanced around sharply. Ginrei stood a few meters away from them, eyes closed and a serene expression on his face. No doubt communicating with his zanpakuto then, perhaps his spirit could shed some light on the situation. Ukitake was kneeling next to one of the boulders some distance away, a puzzled look on his face, and appeared to be studying the gouge marks left behind by whatever had transpired here. Shunsui was perched atop the same rock, conversing quietly with Jushirou.

Ginrei opened his eyes, and with the grace born from years of nobility walked across the mud and thrown earth as if it were a ball room. Ukitake straightened shortly thereafter, still bearing that puzzled look on his face. Both he and Shunsui walked over as well, ending their conversation as they came within earshot.

They all looked like they had questions.

He closed his eyes and sighed internally. Sometimes it was a pain to be in a position where everyone came to him for answers when he desired answers himself.

Ginrei spoke first, and surprisingly didn't ask what was bothering all of them, "It would appear that whoever did this is long gone, and that no lasting damage has been done."

His tone gave away hints of relief. Yamamoto couldn't help but agree with that relief. From the strength they had felt, whoever it belonged to could have done serious damage to the surrounding districts before they could have arrived to stop it.

"Indeed," Yamamoto agreed, his ancient tones carrying somewhat in the clearing, "but the 'Who' in this still remains to be seen."

They were silent for a few moments, all of them pausing to consider the question none of them had an answer to, until Jushirou spoke up with a quietly intrigued tone.

"Soutaichou, I noted something odd about the marks left behind," his voice trailed off, and he turned and walked toward the bolder he had been near before. He beckoned at them to follow, and soon they were all peering down at what had puzzled Jushirou earlier.

Upon closer examination, they all could see why Jushirou was so interested.

Deep in the trenches left behind, lining the bottom, were burn marks. Not only that, but they were composed entirely of pitch black reiatsu, the same reiatsu that permeated the air all around them. They were already fading, and were hard to distinguish at nighttime, but they looked like burn marks left behind from kido spells or explosions. The difference here being that these were made solely of reiatsu instead of simple friction or impact, and the reiatsu itself was flailing gently like black flame.

"Never in mine nor Shunsui's years as captains have we ever seen anything like this."

This only gave rise to more questions. Ginrei's face remained much the same, but both Ukitake and Retsu exchanged a look of puzzlement. Kyoraku said nothing, and tugged his sakkat down to hide his expression.

Genryusai scowled behind his beard, and turned away, speaking over his shoulder.

"Neither have I."

Several startled sounds carried after him. He knew why. For him, the Soutaichou himself, to have lived for thousands of years, and to also not know was unexpected.

He didn't know what to make of any of this. He had absolutely no answers. He was presented with a mysterious shinigami, a torn up clearing, and an impossible reiatsu signature. One that had almost completely faded by now. That didn't matter anymore he supposed, as he stalked away, his captains following after a few moments. He'd speak to Shihouin-taichou, and have him send out feelers to try and get to the bottom of this.

The signature might be gone from here, and it might have disappeared from his senses.

That didn't mean that any of them would forget it.

* * *

><p>After a few minutes of haphazard shunpo his legs decided to start working properly again, and not too much later his brain followed suit. Now, several hours later he'd managed to tear through the districts, and ended up somewhere near the lower 60's if his internal compass was right. It was one of the more mountainous regions of the Rukongai with larger gatherings of homes and businesses clinging to the roots of the mountains.<p>

He shunpoed to a stop past a larger town, outside of a cave at the base of one of the mountains. He threw off his hood, and peered into the inky blackness of the cave.

During the war they'd holed up in caves like this. They dotted the mountains, and the resistance often used them for retreats as part of their guerilla tactics towards the last years.

He reached up and scratched behind his ears, brushing the hair out of his eyes on the way. He needed to get a haircut he mused, as he stepped forward into the cave. During the war, with the near constant fighting first in Hueco Mundo, and then here in Soul Society, he hardly ever had the chance to get it cut.

He looked around the cave, the moon his only source of light. He wasn't tired, he'd been out for days as it was, but it was around midnight at the least and he wanted a place to sit and gather his thoughts. He shrugged mentally, and settled himself down on his back.

He'd had worse.

A cave out in the middle of the Rukongai was a relief as opposed to curling up in a single blanket in the shadow of a dune in Hueco Mundo. Only two or three hours of rest possible before you had to throw yourself into the fight once more. Hollows breathing down your neck no matter how exhausted you were, having to sleep with one eye open, a twitch away from fully alert just to keep your own life intact. Freezing cold wind biting into your skin, sleeping in weather that was always 30 or below. Waking up to find that some of your younger troops weren't even alive anymore, freezing to death in their sleep.

He didn't sleep well anymore for a lot of reasons.

Zangetsu cut in without fanfare, _"Stop Ichigo. Remember why we are here and take heart."_

He closed his eyes for a minute to clear his thoughts. Zangetsu was right. He was here to fix everything. He was here to stop a future from happening, a future that only he knew of. Besides, he was probably making it rain within his inner world, or at least making it rain harder. He wouldn't lie to himself about that. It hadn't stopped raining in there for years. His hollow didn't give a damn, but Zangetsu used to chide him for it. He didn't do that anymore. He still tried to help Ichigo in any way he could, like right now, but Zangetsu himself knew that probably nothing would stop the rain ever again. Not with what they had seen, and with what they had done.

His mind returned to what Zangetsu had said, about why he was here. He knew the answer to that. Knew it so well just the thought made his want to storm off right then and there, and murder Sosuke Aizen right in front of the entire Gotei 13.

He couldn't do that though, at least he couldn't do it yet. Anticipation of the moment he'd be able to tear Aizen's head off welled up inside of him, and his hollow took note.

"_**Hell yeah King! Now you're talking! We're gonna put that son-of-a-bitch's head on a spike!"**_

He shook his head in exasperation, his hollow was an honest to God maniac. He couldn't help but agree though. Aizen's days were numbered, and the bastard didn't even have a clue.

What was he going to do though? He needed a plan.

It was just like Kisuke had said, he knew that he couldn't make a move yet. So when would he?

He stopped to ponder for a moment. If he was here out in the rukongai, then was there another Ichigo out there? Another one of him ten years younger, and still blissfully unaware of the shit storm he was about to fall into? Or had he taken that Ichigo's place? In either case would the execution attempt on Rukia still happen?

If it did then that would be his chance. It had been at that moment in his own timeline that Aizen had shown his cards to the world, and gotten himself branded a traitor. He could stop the execution from happening, and slay Aizen the moment he betrayed everyone all in one go.

However, if he had taken that Ichigo's place then would Rukia end up giving her powers to anyone? The original reason that the hollow fishbone-D had gotten the drop on them, wounding Rukia and inadvertently ending with her giving Ichigo her powers, had been because Ichigo's own obtrusive reiatsu had been clogging up her senses. Besides, he knew from not only Kisuke's, but also Aizen's own words that he had been a big part of both their plans ever since he'd been born (which was a little creepy to him, just saying). If he wasn't there anymore then would that change things exponentially this time around?

He sat up and growled quietly in frustration.

He had never been good at this. Kisuke had attempted (key word attempted) to teach him the finer arts of puppet mastering the world. He tried to teach him how to whip up plans and manipulate what happened around him through subtlety, but it just wasn't his thing. He was more of a come-up-with-a-loose-plan-on-the-go kind of guy, and he was really good at just improvising on the way. He knew from experience that in battle no plan survives first contact with the enemy. He'd always tackled situations by, as Kisuke always claimed, "Charging in head on, and hacking away at anything that moved."

Ichigo liked to think he'd gotten better over the years at breaking that habit. He was definitely a lot more level headed than his teenaged self. Not nearly as quick to anger as before. Actually no, he still got angry, but instead of yelling and waving his sword at who ever had pissed him off he hid it within instead. He used his anger like a blade now. Getting angry was good when fighting, but only if you used it right. If you couldn't then anger only made you reckless, sloppier and more prone to getting yourself impaled. If you used your anger correctly, channeled it through your sword arm with cold, ruthless accuracy then it became a tool. A tool he had learned to use.

A scream of terror from outside the cave tore him from his thoughts, shattering the peaceful night air. He jumped to his feet instantly on high alert, throwing his hood on in the process, and shunpoed to the mouth of the cave.

He peered out into the inky, midnight darkness, and swept the tree line a couple dozen meters away with his eyes. The moon shone down onto the forest in front of him, making the shadows within dance as the leaves rustled in the gentle wind. He simultaneously reached out with his senses, trying to feel where the scream might have come from. He'd gotten much better at sensing reiatsu over the years, comparable to a captain's skill now what with his own reiatsu finally under control and out of the way.

He locked onto several reiatsu signatures at least half a mile away. He instantly recognized one of them to be a hollow, and he tensed at the thought. Two of the others were very weak signatures, no doubt ordinary souls out here in the forest that must have been ambushed, but there was another final one there that drew his attention. He could tell that whoever was there with them was stronger than the others. He'd bet it was a shinigami, but they weren't that strong, and probably an unseated officer if that was the case.

He sprang into action immediately, flash stepping towards them at a fast pace. If it had been a seated officer he would have just let it go, best not to risk his identity being discovered when it was a situation a more seasoned shinigami could easily handle. However, this wasn't a seated officer out there, and this was a somewhat stronger hollow. He'd get in, and get out quick. He knew who ever it was would attempt to question him, but if he ran then there was no chance of them catching him.

He shunpoed on, a mere blur through the trees, faster than the naked eye could track. He was there within a minute, and he came upon a sight that instantly made him glad he decided to come.

From up in his perch standing atop a tree branch he could see the hollow. It was at least half a dozen meters tall and very muscular. It had an apelike appearance to it, with huge arms that were firmly planted in the soil beneath its knuckles. Its mask was plain to see, the moon's light highlighting its stark white color. It's prey were three people, two young children hiding in the bushes below the trees across from him, and the other person he'd sensed.

The other person standing a few meters from the hollow, sword in hand, was a young kid. He looked to be in his mid-to-late teens, but with souls there was no telling how old the kid actually was. He looked tall, but was slouching from exhaustion with his fight. Ichigo couldn't see his face in the light, but he could make out the tousled mop of black hair on his head, and his garb which was cut up and torn as well.

Garb that wasn't a shinigami's shihakusho.

That made Ichigo start slightly in surprise. So the kid wasn't a shinigami despite his reiatsu level. That meant that the sword in his hands wasn't a zanpakuto, and he sensed immediately after that that there was indeed no reiatsu coming from the blade. The kid hadn't been to the academy, meaning that he hadn't had an asauchi imprinting yet.

Ichigo was impressed. For the kid to be able to fend off a hollow of this size and strength without being a shinigami was definitely an achievement.

The hollow roared, its voice shaking the trees around them, and raised its fist to bring it down to crush the kid. The guy physically flinched at the noise and involuntarily stepped back, but to his credit raised his sword once more, and made to dodge out of the way. However, that moment he'd wasted cost him, and it was apparent to Ichigo that he wouldn't be able to get out of the way in time without at least receiving a glancing blow.

Ichigo drew one of his blades within the blink of an eye, his katana a flash of silver in the moonlight. It was done so fast that the sound of metal being drawn was the only sign it had actually happened. He lunged from his branch, shunpoing through the air at lightning speeds.

He swung, his sword a quicksilver streak in the night air.

He didn't even turn, his sword sheathed once more before his feet had even touched the ground. The hollow was dead, its body already dissolving into reishi as it hit the ground, and he tuned out Shiro's indignant grumble about how boring it had been.

It was silent for about a minute, save for the rustling in the trees and the other guy's labored breathing. Ichigo glanced over to the bushes that the kids were hiding in, and both of them were staring at him with wide eyes. They were a boy and a girl, the boy clinging to the girl and looking younger than her, but both looking no older than ten years old at the most.

He turned fully to look at the kid. The guy still had his sword in his hands he noted, no doubt not trusting Ichigo. 'Smart,' Ichigo though briefly. There was a waver in him though, one entirely different from exhaustion. It was still too dark for him to make out a lot of the guy's features but he could still see that his shoulders were tensed, and the wary stance made it clear.

The kid could tell from Ichigo's display that he had no chance of defending either himself or the kids if Ichigo turned out to be an enemy. He was afraid, and Ichigo could see it even if he hid it well behind his resolve.

Well. There was no need for that. Best if he calmed the kid's nerves before he had a heart attack. Besides, the boy looked like he needed to sit down for a couple of hours. With the kid not being a shinigami he was comfortable enough to stick around. Ichigo could stay long enough to at least make sure that the three of them were going to be alright.

Ichigo spoke up in the silence, his tone somewhat light as to better set the guy at ease, "Relax would you. I'm a shinigami. I just came to lend a hand."

He brought up his hands in the universal sign of goodwill, and stepped forward into the light. The kid visibly deflated, relief apparent in the way he instantly sagged where he stood.

He finally sheathed his sword, but eyed Ichigo for a few moments longer before relenting.

A grin came to his face instead and he answered back in an equally light tone to show he was just joking, "Thanks for the backup shinigami, even if I could have handled it myself."

Ichigo felt the tiniest sliver of humor, but that stopped immediately as he openly gape at what he saw next.

The kid stepped out of the shadows, and into the moonlight. His face now clear to see.

Ichigo was met with the sight of his own face staring right back at him.

It was like looking at a picture from his high school years. The guy looked exactly like he had back when he was a teen himself at the start of the war, and even now they still looked strikingly similar. The only differences were the black hair atop his lookalike's head, and the green eyes gazing at him.

He was glad he was still wearing his hood, or this conversation would have gotten weird real quick.

Suddenly, he was struck by a stray thought. A memory from years ago that surged to the front of his mind. He knew this face. He knew it for reasons other than it looking like him. He couldn't place it, but he knew. He knew, he knew, he knew…

"The names Kaien, Kaien Shiba. Those two over there are my little sister Kukaku and my little brother Ganju. I took them out here for some late night exploring, and we got ambushed. I'd expect something like this from further out in the districts, but for the sixty second? I thought it'd be safer. Really though, thanks for the help. I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to those two."

Ichigo stopped listening halfway through.

Kaien Shiba. Kukaku Shiba. Ganju Shiba.

What?

_What?_

Oh no.


	2. Shattered Dream

**Disclaimer - I do not own anything from Bleach**

* * *

><p>Warnings: AU, Time Travel, Ichigo-centric, violence, language<p>

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><p><strong>Author's Note: But Wait There's More! Haha...yeah. <strong>

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><p>Chapter 2: Shattered Dream<p>

Ichigo felt like he'd just been hit by a train. He didn't know what to think. One minute he was slaying a hollow, and the next the world didn't make sense.

This….this was wrong. Something was _very_ wrong.

Kaien Shiba. Kaien Shiba, Kukaku Shiba, and Ganju Shiba.

They were all right in front of him. One supposedly dead man, or well three supposedly dead people, but two of them would have been alive ten years ago. He knew of Kaien Shiba. He was his long dead cousin who had been a lieutenant, and a mentor to Rukia long before he'd even been born.

But here Kaien was standing right in front of him. Very young and very much alive. He sensed a second later that the miniscule reiatsu signatures of the kids did in fact match Kukaku and Ganju, and both of his cousins were now significantly younger than he'd ever known them to be.

What was this? This didn't make any sense. Why were they here? Had he fallen asleep in that cave? Was this some sort of weird dream that he'd wake up from?

He reached down and pinched his forearm hard enough to almost draw blood. In the darkness the other occupants of the forest were none the wiser.

So this wasn't a dream? Then what was this?

Out of shock it took a while for it to click, but when it did….

"_The hatted shop keeper is a dead man."_

"_**I'm going to tear him apart."**_

"I'm going to _kill_ Kisuke."

"Do what?" Kaien enquired confusedly from across the small clearing.

Shiro raged in his inner world, no doubt shattering sky scrapers left and right, and Zangetsu boiled in his silent wrath. Ichigo looked up again, an overwhelmingly broken feeling of despair welling up in his chest as he met the eyes of his doppelganger.

So that's how it was going to be eh? The universe just had to screw him over one more time. Nothing could ever go his way it seemed.

Kisuke's measurements or whatever must have been off, but that was neither here nor there.

"Nothing," Ichigo struggled to reply in the strongest voice he could manage, desperately trying to hide the grief tearing him apart.

"You're not hurt are you?" Ichigo asked quickly, his voice slightly wobbly, trying to change the subject as he strode across the clearing.

Kaien let it drop and shrugged with a grin as Ichigo approached, "Eh nothing too bad. Just some nicks, and scratches when it got lucky." Ichigo stopped in front of him, and Kaien peered over Ichigo's shoulder to look into the bushes beyond.

"Oi, you two. Come on out now, it's safe," he called, followed by some shuffling in the bushes.

A miniature sized Ganju popped out of the bushes a few seconds later, and ended up planting face first in the dirt.

Ichigo would have laughed if the sight of his once dead friend and cousin wasn't tearing his heart apart.

Kukaku walked out of the bushes right after, arms crossed and grinning unrepentantly over at him and Kaien.

'She has both her arms' Ichigo noted, although he wasn't that surprised. She looked so young that he doubted anyone would even let her near fireworks.

"Nee-chan! Why did you kick me?!" Ganju complained, teary eyes peering up as his sister.

"Because idiot, you wouldn't let go of my arm," she shot back at him with a scowl, and Ganju instinctively scooted away from his wrathful older sister.

Kaien stepped around Ichigo and walked over to them, and Ichigo idly noted a limp in the guy's step. He'd have to make sure that was looked at.

He bent down and picked up Ganju who had still been lying in the dirt, and placed him back down on his feet again. Ganju swiftly darted behind Kaien creating a barrier of protection against Kukaku.

"Are you two alright?" Kaien asked as he bent down to their level, and there was a tone in his voice that struck Ichigo.

It was the same tone he'd always used when checking on or comforting his little sisters.

He tuned out the conversation after that. He wanted to turn around right then and leave. God this hurt. He'd known it would the moment he chose to do this, but actually seeing the people he'd been friends with. The people he'd watched die before his very eyes.

He didn't want to think about how it would feel to see Rukia or Renji again, or Kisuke and Shinji.

He definitely didn't want to think about seeing his little sisters again. If he ever would.

That thought hurt more than any.

"Hey, shinigami," Kaien called out, halting his thoughts and prompting Ichigo to turn toward them all again.

"What's your name anyway, you didn't tell me," he asked curiously, Kukaku and Ganju on either side of him. Kukaku was eyeing him skeptically, and Ganju was busy wiping dirt off of his knees.

Ichigo paused for a moment debating whether to give his real name or not, and then dismissed it. Not like it'd make a difference now.

"Ichigo," he replied curtly.

The short answer slightly off balanced Kaien, but he recovered smile still in place. That smile bothered Ichigo. Kaien didn't bother him, or well he did but not for any reason that Kaien could really do anything about, but the smile on Kaien's face bothered him. Ichigo wasn't used to seeing a smile on his own face.

"One who protects eh? That's a good name, a strong one. Got a last name?" Kaien asked once more good-naturedly, hands now on his hips as he leaned forward. Despite all of the emotions warring in his heart, Ichigo was still pleasantly surprised to see that at least Kaien wasn't an idiot. As in, he hadn't confused his name with a god damn strawberry. As for that last question…

"Ku-," Ichigo stopped mid-word, and his face fell slightly to glower at the ground. Kaien quirked an eyebrow at him until Ichigo spoke up again, voice much quieter.

"No. I don't."

He didn't, or at least not anymore. His family didn't even exist here, and Isshin was still around in soul society no doubt goofing off with the Shiba name. The thought of starting a family probably hadn't even crossed his mind yet.

Besides, he didn't deserve to call himself a Kurosaki. He'd failed his father, he'd failed his sisters, and above all he'd failed his mother. The thought of what she'd say to him now, after he'd failed to protect his own sisters plagued him daily.

So no. He wasn't a Kurosaki. He wouldn't dirty that name with his actions. He wouldn't call himself Kurosaki until the day Aizen was dying at his feet, and everyone he knew was safe again.

Kaien's confusion showed at that, "A shinigami without a surname eh? Well Ichigo, it's uh nice to meet you, but what are you doing out here? Not that I'm not grateful or anything, it's just odd to see a shinigami patrol out here this late at night, and especially one alone."

Kisuke had always said that Ichigo was bad at planning ahead, and Ichigo knew it. On the flip side however, Kisuke had also always been marveled by Ichigo's amazing ability to think on his feet. When important decisions needed to be made right then and there than Ichigo could make them. So when the question came, the lie came just as quickly.

"I'm retired, I left the Gotei 13 a while ago. I've been wandering the districts ever since, staying all over. Luckily I was nearby when one of the kids screamed, so I came to see what the fuss was about."

"Hmmm…" Kaien nodded thoughtfully at that, thankfully buying the lie. Ichigo may have been good at thinking on his feet, but not lying. He attributed his success to the hood he was still wearing. Kaien waited a few moments thinking, and then an idea struck him, "Where are you staying then? There isn't much out here except for one of our family compounds. Sleeping out under the stars?" Kaien asked in good humor.

"A cave actually," Ichigo corrected, and when he answered he hadn't expecting the reaction he received.

"Huh?" Kaien said face faulting, and when Ichigo didn't say anything more he grew skeptical, "Seriously?"

"Yeah," Ichigo replied, tone unsure, not understanding the turn the conversation had taken, "That's how I've done it for a while now."

Kaien's face settled into a look of disbelief, and Ichigo was seriously lost. It wasn't like it was that bad.

"Wow…well that won't do. How about this? You helped me fight that hollow, and helped protect my little brother and sister. In repayment we'll put you up at our place for the night. Or multiple nights. Whichever you like, and for however long you want to stay before you go back to "wandering." It's the least we could do," Kaien proposed, and before Ichigo could even refute him, he continued, "We live in a smaller compound here, since it's a distant branch from our main compound in the Seireitei, but there is still plenty of rooms left over. Seriously, you shouldn't sleep in a cave out here. A hollow could get the drop on you like it did us. Plus, I'm sure you noticed those ridiculous reiatsu pulses from a couple of hours ago. I'm starting to think with everything that went on tonight that it isn't as safe out here as I had initially thought."

Ichigo almost laughed at that. A hollow getting the drop on him? Even in his sleep? That hadn't happened in years, and it was best not talk about those pulses, he'd just…avoid that topic.

He thought about the offer anyway. Part of him honestly wanted to get the hell out of there, but where would he go? He had initially intended to scope out the Seireitei, and then open a garganta to the living world to find Kisuke. He'd probably give him a run-down of what was going on, kick his ass around in the underground training facility to drive home the point that he could handle Aizen just fine without Kisuke needing to butt in, and then wait it out from there.

Now though…he didn't know what he'd do.

A bed did sound nice though, and he needed some time to just…think. Right now it was still too fresh, still too much of a shock for him to think about it clearly. Part of him was still hoping this was some twisted dream.

First things first though.

"Why?" Ichigo asked abruptly. Sure he appreciated the offer, but he needed to know. Say what you like, but he'd grown more wary over the years. He didn't know Kaien personally, and he was certain that there was some sort of ulterior motive at play.

"Why what?" Kaien asked taken aback, tilting his head a little in curiosity.

"Why would you ask me to stay? You don't even know me. All you know is my first name, and that I'm a shinigami. Why would you invite a complete stranger into your house?" Ichigo replied, and there was a tone that made it clear that Ichigo wouldn't tolerate any bullshit.

Once again, Ichigo managed to completely unbalance Kaien with his responses. It took him a second, but he recovered quickly and replied much the same as before.

"A name, and that you're a shinigami, are all I need to want to invite you into my house Ichigo. You're one of the guardians of the afterlife. If anything, I owe you. We all owe you. I have a lot of respect for the shinigami, and retired or not that doesn't change, not to mention you helped us out. Sure it was just one hollow, but you still helped." Kaien answered, and his voice carried an earnest sort of sincerity. It was almost like he really believed what he was saying. In fact, if what Ichigo remembered of the stories he'd been told of the dead lieutenant were all true, than Kaien probably did.

"_**What an idiot," **_a slightly, _slightly_, calmer Shiro grumbled from within his mind.

Ichigo kind of agreed. It was a naïve view of shinigami. He knew from experience that there were some shinigami out there that he didn't want within 100 miles of himself. Like Kenpachi, Gin Ichimaru, or _Kurotsuchi_ as a few examples.

Aizen didn't count. He wanted to be close to the bastard. Close enough to strangle him. Slowly.

"Onii-san…I'm tired," Ganju mumbled, his eyes drooping and legs wavering where he stood.

It was a marvel to Ichigo. When he put the pain aside, the actual sight of a child Ganju was pretty strange, not to mention how he acted. On the other hand, Kukaku wasn't that much different from her adult self besides looking different. She apparently still beat on Ganju when he was annoying her. They treated each other very much the same. However when it came to Kaien, he'd managed to catch the affection and respect for their older brother that both of them had in their eyes. A second ago, when Kaien had explained his reasons for inviting him to stay with them, both of them had stared up at him like he hung the moon and the stars.

Well, they'd both idolized Kaien even in his own timeline, long after the guy had died. Kukaku had a freaking shrine for the guy in her house.

Kaien glanced down at his little brother with a warm indulgent look in his eyes, and bent down to scoop Ganju into his arms, only to throw him over his shoulder making the kid cry out and flail his legs. Kaien ignored him, and opted to reach down and take hold of Kukaku's little hand which she had proffered, no doubt expecting it to be held.

"Well then let's get you two home. It's been a crazy night for all of us," he spoke to them softly, and the cries from Ganju for his older brother to put him down went universally ignored.

Kaien took a few steps, and then looked back over his shoulder to eye Ichigo, obviously noticing that he hadn't moved to follow.

"You coming?" he asked expectantly.

Ichigo wavered, he didn't really know what he was doing, or what was really going on anymore. It had all been one big whirlwind of absolute ridiculousness since he'd landed in the clearing. However, in the end the idea of a warm bed dragged him down. If need be, he could leave at the crack of dawn, and be long gone before any of them were even awake. For now, he made up his mind.

"Yeah."

* * *

><p>Kaien couldn't sleep.<p>

He sat in the study of their house, and the fire burned in the hearth in front of him. He'd put his two younger siblings to sleep a while ago, and Koganehiko and Shiroganehiko had shown Ichigo to his own room several hours earlier as well.

Kaien didn't know what to make of the shinigami he'd invited into his home. He didn't regret it of course, he'd meant every word of what he'd said. Ichigo had saved him and his siblings, and before he'd gone to sleep he'd even demanded to use kido to heal Kaien's leg that had been hurt in the fight. So overall, Ichigo seemed to be a pretty standup guy.

He was a little strange though. Ronin shinigami weren't common, but they weren't non-existent either. So that wasn't what really confused him.

It was the way the guy acted around them. He always seemed to be tense or uncomfortable when near either him or his siblings. It was like he was walking around on eggshells. His words were short, not giving much away, and he had a habit of trying not to look at him. Sometimes, when Kaien was talking to either him or his siblings Ichigo would tense visibly even more, like something Kaien said bothered him.

Plus, despite them coming home and Ichigo going to his room, he never once took off his hood. That was a little strange by itself.

Ichigo was powerful too. Kaien had seen many shinigami in his life. He wasn't old of course, he was only 114, but being a member of one of the noble families meant that he'd seen a lot of the taichous or fukutaichous at events.

Ichigo was different though.

For a retired shinigami, he was extremely skilled. In the single instant that he'd struck down that hollow Kaien had known that Ichigo was strong. How strong? He didn't know, but definitely strong. He had a daisho pair for crying out loud, and he had to control himself from openly gaping at Ichigo when they'd first met because of that. He only knew of two men that had that, and only one had it in his sealed state too, and both of them were taichous. He couldn't gauge his strength by his reiatsu, the guy had it locked down tight. He didn't give off any presence at all. Of course his sensing skills weren't that amazing. He hadn't gone to the academy yet.

He wanted to though.

His parents knew he wanted to be a shinigami, and that he'd had that desire for a long time. They were willing to let him go, but as a Shiba he had to follow tradition. It was one of the few traditions they had left besides building fireworks and the like.

He had to take a sabbatical in the Rukongai, all three of them had to, just like all Shibas did.

They had to live amongst the normal souls of the afterlife. He didn't mean that negatively of course. He may have been a noble, but all Shibas lacked that pathetic mentality that the other clans had adopted. That the souls out in the rukongai weren't even worth noticing. That they were beneath the nobility. He hated that mentality, as his whole family did. That's why they had the sabbatical, it was so that they could gain perspective.

He still wanted to go to the academy though, as soon as possible, sabbatical or not. He would follow tradition of course, but that didn't change the way he felt. He loved the shinigami, and they were what he aspired to be. Tonight was a perfect example, a random shinigami, a retired one at that, had heard a scream and come running to help. A shinigami had acted to protect the innocent souls of the afterlife, at the danger and complete disregard of his own life.

In comparison to that he felt useless. When that hollow had come crashing through the trees to attack them, he'd fended it off as best he could. He had formal training in the art of zanjutsu, but without a zanpakuto or the power to back up his strikes his family was in serious danger. It was thanks to Ichigo that they'd made it home in one piece tonight. He wanted that strength. He craved the strength to protect those close to him, to fight for what he believed in, and to defend even complete strangers if it ever came to that.

He'd kept up his training, running through his katas and forms. He did it even out here, in the early morning out in the back yard before his little brother or sister had even woken up. It was the only thing he could do really besides practice the meager kido he knew.

He craved proper instruction above all else. It was at the academy though, and that route to the strength he craved was currently barred to him.

Wait a minute.

There was a shinigami in the house. An apparently very powerful one at that. Maybe…

Kaien jumped to his feet as the idea hit him, but his shoulders sagged seconds later.

He wouldn't get his hopes up. Ichigo might not even be here in the morning, and even if he was there was no reason for him to say yes. Besides, he didn't even know the guy, and Ichigo was already uncomfortable around him for an unknown reason.

His chances were slim to none, but he'd still ask. No reason not to.

* * *

><p><em>Baraggan's cracked skull's jaw stretched wide as he screamed to high heaven, and his respira poured from him into the streets of Karakura. The very world around Ichigo aged, and deteriorated in an ever expanding sphere centering on the dying Espada. Buildings cracked and fell to dust, and the roads disappeared from their very eyes, aging hundreds of years in seconds. Whole chunks of the landscape were tearing off of the surface, and flying toward the Espada as he went critical. Some gravitational pull was tearing at them, straining their hands as they fought not to lose their grip, and fly into the sphere of purple miasma. It seemed even in his dying moments Baraggan Louisenbairn, the fallen king of Hueco Mundo and Espada of Aging, would still try and drag them all down with him. <em>

_Ichigo held onto the street lamp a block away with all of his strength. Even then his hands were growing exhausted from the strain. He whipped his head around in the roaring wind, and looked over at Sui-feng who was also clinging onto a shop door a few meters behind him. _

_His eyes widened when suddenly the shop door she was holding onto broke from its hinges and sailed away. Sui-feng instantly tried to find some other means to stop herself from flying off as well, but her hands lost their grip on the bricks lining the building, and she sailed feet first straight for Ichigo. _

_His hand shot out to grab hers, and he felt her wrist dislocate in the resulting pull. He felt his grip on the pole start to slip, and compensated by wrapping his legs tighter. He looked into her eyes, and for a moment saw the sheer terror she had drowned in when she'd lost her footing. She hid it quickly, and with pain from her wrist dancing in her features she plastered on a strained look of resolve. Her other hand swung around to grip his, and she desperately clung to it like a lifeline, her whole body lifted and parallel with the street below them. _

_They held on like this for several minutes, and Baraggan's miasma crept closer as time passed. The closer it got the harder it pulled, and despite his tight grip Ichigo was starting to lose feeling in his arms and legs. Soon enough the miasma was a third of a block away, and the pole they were clinging to didn't look like it could stand much more strain. Neither did Ichigo for that matter. _

_Not with both of their weight pulling them. _

_His hand that Sui-feng was clinging to, and the one gripping the pole, were both sweating and slowly going numb. _

_But Ichigo wouldn't let go._

_He'd never let go._

_He wasn't about to lose someone else. Not again, and not to this. Sui-feng's life was literally in his hands, and he would __**not **__let her go. _

_Sui-feng looked up at him, and Ichigo's heart shattered for what felt like the thousandth time. He knew what that look meant. It was a look that meant it wasn't his choice to make. _

_She put on a fake smile, a soft one, one Ichigo had never seen before on her face. Her eyes spoke of a resolve of a different kind. One entirely different from a fight. _

"_Listen ryoka, look after Shihouin-sama for me would you? She's probably going to be a bit upset with me when she hears about what I'm about to do. So just make sure she doesn't do anything rash. She has enough on her plate already without having to worry about me or my actions, and it would be selfish of me to waste her time."_

_She paused for a moment to draw in a quaking breath. She was crying lightly now, still smiling like there wasn't a damn thing wrong with their fucked up world, and the tears were tearing from her face as quick as they came. _

"_Don't you dare let me down ryoka."_

_She stopped again, and this time she peered over her shoulder. She eyed the miasma creeping toward them, and watched what it did to everything it touched. For a brief moment Ichigo saw fear in her eyes, but it disappeared again. She looked back at him, and their eyes met for the last time. _

"_Get out of this in one piece…Ichigo."_

_Sui-feng let go. _

_Ichigo lost another. _

Ichigo ripped himself from the sheets, and was to his feet in the blink of an eye. He had a tight grip on the katana that he had seemingly materialized in his hands. His eyes tore around the room, something wild and inexplicably dark in his gaze, and a cold sweat covered him head to toe. His shaking hands gripped the single blade, and the tip quivered in the early morning light seeping in through the curtains from the not yet risen sun.

His mind and heart slowly stopped racing, and he remembered where he was.

It was a dream. A memory.

Slowly his reality righted itself, and his blade's tip sank lower until his zanpakuto fell from his hands all together. He fell to his knees right after, his legs giving out under him. He knelt there, and his shoulders shook as he silently wept on the wooden floor.

Zangetsu's presence was there as he always was. Strong and steady like a rock, he waited for Ichigo's shoulders to stop quivering before he finally spoke.

"_The unconscious mind is always infinitely more difficult to guard than the conscious Ichigo. You know this as well as I, and for that I am truly sorry. I'm sorry that in this, I cannot defend you."_

Ichigo's hands closed into tight fists, and on shaky legs climbed to his feet.

'I know Zangetsu, and it isn't your fault,' he replied in the quiet of his mind.

Quiet mainly due to his hollow's silence. At times like this, Shiro usually kept quiet. It wasn't out of fear or anything, but because even his berserker hollow could feel pity from time to time. Both Shiro and Zangetsu could see the dreams, which had grown commonplace, and both had obviously witnessed the original events themselves. Shiro might drive him up with wall sometimes, but right now, Shiro knew to give Ichigo his space.

He probably didn't know how much Ichigo truly appreciated that.

Ichigo threw on his hood, and his internal clock told him it was near 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning. He picked up his katana from the floor, sheathing it on the way, and walked over to his wakizashi that leaned beside the bed. He ran both sheathed blades through the sides of his pitch black obi sash, and quietly crept toward the door, cancelling the silencing kido as he moved.

He opened the door, and with all of the silence of a cat stalked down the hallway. His steps didn't make a sound. He could hear from the other side of the house the two retainers, Koganehiko and Shiroganehiko that he'd met when he'd first been introduced to Kukaku all those years ago, making breakfast for the others.

He was met with a shoji door at the end of the hallway. The night before he'd mapped out the house almost instantly out of reflex and for future reference, and with the layout already in his mind, opened it to navigate toward the back door.

Within a minute he found himself standing outside in a high fenced in area. The fence was a stone wall on either side of the yard that stretched beyond sight into a forest that resided behind the house. The house had a roofed back porch with mats and a small and low table to his left, with the branches of a tree shadowing it. He walked off of the small steps, and the grass tickled his feet as he walked across the open field in his waraji sandals. He had long since stopped wearing the tabi, and so the dew from the early morning wet his feet as he walked.

In the center of the open yard resided a single massive tree. Tall and strong it gave shade from the house itself, to far out into the back yard. The light breeze drifted through its branches, and the early morning dawn had yet to rise. It was still light outside though, with the rays shining through the branches from the sun that hid just beneath the horizon. Ichigo walked toward the tree, and drew both of his blades as he approached.

Ichigo settled himself down in the grass beneath it in between two of the protruding roots, and he gently laid both of his blades across his lap, the katana closer to him with the wakizashi across his knees. He looked out over the early morning tranquility, his eyes and face shadowed by his hood, and his breathing gently slowed as he relaxed. He doubted that he'd be interrupted out here this early in the morning, so he could take some time to screw his head on straight.

His mind was a mess, but when presented with this early morning peace he knew that meditation would come easy. He slowly closed his eyes, and fell into the pull of meditation, with jinzen coming quickly after.

He needed guidance. With the situation presented to him he knew he couldn't figure this out alone.

* * *

><p>The pull stopped, and with a gentle thud he felt his back hit cement. He stirred and woke fully to the feeling of rain on his cheeks. He cracked open his eyes, and was greeted by a roiling black mass of clouds overhead. Of course it was raining, when was it not?<p>

He sat up, and scanned his world of now upright skyscrapers. The once skewed city of his inner world had finally been righted ever since certain surprising…things came to light.

It had been a surprise to all of them really. When one day Ichigo had shown up for battle, two black blades instead of one, and then proceeded to tear apart the hollow armies before him with a completely new and downright terrifying level of strength. His explanations to his comrades on that development had always been vague, but he knew the truth inside his soul. That's all that really mattered.

His father, Isshin Kurosaki, had come to him one day. It was before the war had taken such a sharp turn for the worst, and long before either his father or sisters would be set to die. He was especially different that day, and Ichigo had noted that for the whole day really he'd been acting….strange.

Stranger than usual. Ichigo's father was a nut case in any given situation.

He'd was changed though, quiet, and with a faraway look in his eyes. Ichigo knew that whenever Isshin acted this way something was up, and whatever his dad had to say was important. His father very rarely got like this, and Ichigo could count on his two hands how often he'd seen it in his life up until that point. He'd seen it sometimes on the anniversary of his mother's death. Not all the time, but sometimes when he'd chanced a look over at his father he'd see it. His dad just staring at the grave, or off into the air lost in his thoughts.

In the lull between battles Isshin had beckoned him to follow him, and they'd ended up at the grave of Masaki. There, with his own mother as a witness, Isshin told him everything, quietly with his head bowed. Told him about his mother, how she had been a pureblooded Quincy, and about his own heritage. Told the story of how they'd met, and how she'd saved his life. He told the story of how he ended up saving her life too not much later, and about why Isshin had lost his powers for so long.

He didn't leave a thing unsaid.

At the time the war was still cranking up, and Ichigo was still having some problems with his hollow. So the revelation had only ended up giving the young substitute some perspective, and Isshin a light beating.

Later on down the line though…that changed.

Ichigo came to an "agreement" with his hollow several years ago. Ichigo and Shiro thought they had it all figured out. Ichigo accepted Shiro, and that Shiro was really just the manifestation of all the things he feared about himself, feared of what he could become, fear of what he could do, and the fear of what his instinct could drive him to becoming. There was no more constant struggle anymore, just an alliance of powers created to strengthen the whole. With the acceptance they were perfectly balanced, and became partners in a very real way. Sure they got on each other's nerves sometimes, yelled and bickered back and forth over stupid things. They'd settled down though. Settled into a sort of brotherly relationship where they picked on each other, but always had the others back no matter what the circumstance.

It was then that 'Zangetsu' had spoken to him.

The old man had always been by his side. He'd been the force that had guided him for years, helped him step by step to achieve his goals, and to protect those closest to him. They'd been through thick and thin together, and he had always had Ichigo's back. Protecting him when he needed it most.

So when his zanpakuto spirit came to him within the pouring rain, and admitted that he wasn't really Ichigo's zanpakuto spirit, Ichigo had been a little confused.

A little confused, a little lost, and kind of pissed.

Much like Isshin though, 'Zangetsu' told him everything as well.

He told him what he really was, the manifestation of Ichigo's Quincy powers. Told him how he had never wanted the life of a shinigami for Ichigo, and had tried his hardest to impede his path along that route, even going so far as to take the place of his true zanpakuto. He didn't sugar coat it, and told it as it was.

That wasn't all he told Ichigo though. He revealed how in the end he decided to align his blade with Ichigo's own. That Ichigo's own resolve, his own desires, were what he believed in now. He'd realized that being a Quincy or a shinigami didn't really make a difference when Ichigo was still doing what was right. He'd never hold Ichigo back again, and that despite his initial intentions, all of the words he had told him, all of the instruction and advice had been nothing but the truth.

The only time he'd lied to Ichigo was when he had told him his name.

He also revealed the other reason why, upon his waking in the shattered shaft, he'd taken the place of Ichigo's true zanpakuto.

It was because his initial zanpakuto spirit was a hollow. Shirosaki to be precise.

That had been a very surprising revelation for both him, and his hollow.

Being a Quincy spirit, he'd automatically labeled it a threat. Suppressing it instantly, and trying to protect Ichigo from it, even going so far as to take its rightful place.

It was probably a good thing too. Because if the Shiro of that time had been allowed to be his zanpakuto spirit, Ichigo probably wouldn't have lasted very long.

However, the real root of the conversation came not long after.

Zangetsu had decided to step down. He'd approved of the way he and his hollow had formed their bond, and with old man Zangetsu "holding him back" Ichigo couldn't gain the strength he desperately needed to win the war.

The strength only his true zanpakuto could give him.

So he would fade. He'd no longer 'get in the way' so to speak. He'd held Ichigo back long enough the old man had claimed, and Ichigo probably didn't want him around anymore now that the truth was out.

In the end though, Ichigo always managed to do things his own way, and in a way that could surprise even the stoic old man.

Ichigo had laughed in his face.

* * *

><p><em>For once a truly confused look adorned 'Zangetsu' in place of his usually ever calm demeanor. This definitely wasn't the reaction he'd been expecting from Ichigo. The true Zangetsu looked on, a grin etched on his bleached white face. <em>

_For once it seemed, the hollow knew more than the Quincy spirit, and he wasn't telling. _

_For his part, Ichigo was bent double, hands on his knees, laughing. Laughing so hard that he was starting to wheeze and lose his breath. _

_Eventually Ichigo's laughs faded, and after a few minutes he straightened. His face was still red from the exertion, and his mouth was twitching upward at the corners. _

"_That was probably the stupidest thing I've ever heard you say old man."_

_Confusion gave way to indignant affront, but Ichigo spoke first before the old man could retort._

"_Do you really think I wouldn't want you around anymore just because of that?"_

_The old man raised his eyebrows,__ "I lied to you Ichi-"_

"_I get lied to on a daily basis. One of my best friends is Kisuke Urahara who is arguably the Master or Lies, and my own father lied to me about my mother for my whole life. This shit is nothing Zangetsu."_

_Ichigo paused for a bit in thought, and then continued, "Well this shit is something actually, but you told me your intentions. I know of the Quincy. I've been around Uryuu enough to understand why you did it. I don't blame you, and besides you've had my back all this time despite that. You're forgiven, and you're sure as hell not going anywhere."_

_He paused again, and his thoughts took a darker turn, _

"_I'm not losing someone else dear to me Zangetsu."_

_The old man's features softened and he bowed his head at that, and he was once again internally marveled by Ichigo's core nature. Even at times like this it still managed to shine. He didn't know how Ichigo did it sometimes. _

"_Very well, I understand. If it is what you want then I shall stay. However, you must also understand that my name isn't zan-"_

"_Like hell it isn't!" Ichigo cut him off, stunning 'Zangetsu' once more. Ichigo paused again, and looked over at his hollow. _

_They shared a look, holding a silent conversation between them, and once again it was the old man that was left clueless. _

_In the end, the hollow just grinned sadistically, and Ichigo pinned 'Zangetsu' with a look in turn._

"_Shiro doesn't give a damn. You know I don't give a damn. I've always called you Zangetsu, and just because you're not my actual zanpakuto isn't going to suddenly make me change your name. Besides, I'm used to it that way. As far as I'm concerned, you being Quincy or not, you're __**BOTH **__my zanpakuto spirits. Just because you're Quincy doesn't mean that you're not also a part of what makes up Zangetsu. Both of you make up Zangetsu. My zanpakuto. Shiro might be Zangetsu as well, maybe even more so, but I can't call you both that or it will just get confusing. So suck it up and deal with it."_

_On that note Ichigo had turned away, and the next morning had watched as his zanpakuto had dissolved into black reishi, and reformed before his very eyes as the twin blades he now carried. Almost in reaction to what he had said, the two blades were indeed from both spirits. _

_Sure Shiro made up the larger blade, but they were both there. This proved, at least to Ichigo, that his Quincy powers still held the right to hold the name of Zangetsu. _

_Curiously enough, with his new blades whenever he fought his reiatsu climbed so high it disappeared from everyone's radar as well. _

_Later on, he learned the true meaning of transcendence._

* * *

><p>It had taken a lot of training with Shiro after that to become proficient with his dual blades, and Zangetsu was always there critiquing him. He already had the instinct for battle thanks to everything that had happened in his life, and he had always been a nightmare in combat even before the spiritual world and he collided. He just needed to become acquainted with now wielding two blades at once. Being ambidextrous as he was, it didn't take much to get over the initial issues.<p>

Of course overcoming the initial issues didn't really translate to mastering the style.

In the end, it had been Kyoraku Shunsui that had taken him under his wing. Kyoraku being one of the only two shinigami up until that point to have dual swords, and him being the only one with a daisho pair even when sealed, was the obvious and only choice Ichigo really had. Kyoraku had taken some convincing (as in _a lot_ of convincing), but in the end had taken Ichigo on as his student. He'd even promised to help Ichigo create his own personal style if that was what he wanted.

Ichigo hadn't really known what to expect when the training began. He was close to Kyoraku, not close like he and Kisuke, but close. Kyoraku being the best friend of Rukia's captain caused Ichigo to run into him often. He'd always be with Jushirou, and Rukia was with Jushirou a lot as well. They'd shared drinks and chatted during the lulls, and the war had only served to strengthen what was already there into a strong friendship.

He'd always seen Kyoraku as a lazy guy who skipped out on his paperwork, but at the same time he was still a great captain from what he could see. So when the training started he felt like it would reflect the captain's usual disposition.

Ichigo had been very wrong.

Kyoraku had been a nightmare as a teacher, and it was only after they had started training that Ichigo had learned that Kyoraku himself had been trained by the _Soutaichou_. Kyoraku had explained to him the reason for his ridiculously harsh training by saying, 'You're one of our strongest fighters Ichigo, not to mention a dear friend to many. I won't have you die in this war just because I didn't train you properly.'

More than once Ichigo had regretted ever asking, but after all was said and done it had paid off. In the end, he now wielded his true zanpakuto with deadly proficiency, and his inner world was made right.

Now though, standing atop one of those upright skyscrapers, it really didn't look like much.

Water ran in the streets, and the sky raged without end. From the purple and seething clouds above, lightning struck at random intervals, lighting up the sky in their fury. Every skyscraper had dozens of their windows blown out. The broken shards decorated the concrete below, and with every flash of lightning a reflection of light off of the fragments would dance back to the sky. The wind howled tearing at his clothes, making his coat flail around him. The rain itself obscured much of the expanse before him, an ever falling barrier blocking his sight. Within a minute his clothes were already drenched, and he clenched his hands tight around the hilts of his zanpakuto to try and suppress the involuntary shaking that wracked him.

The hated the rain. He'd hated it ever since the night his mother had been murdered in front of him. He hated that it had become so normal that his spirits never even commented on it anymore. He hated the ripping wind too, and he hated the broken world his soul had become. He hated knowing that Zangetsu and Shiro had to live in this daily. He hated Aizen for being the root cause, and he hated himself for failing them all.

He looked down at his feet, the water dripping into his eyes, and the seething blinding agony rose again. His hands clenched tighter, his knuckles bone white from the grip. He asked himself the same question he always asked.

"How could I let it come to this?"

What had happened to the world where everything was so simple? Where his biggest worries were making it to school on time, and fighting off the occasional gang that harassed him, or getting out of class soon enough to walk Karin and Yuzu home when they were younger.

Where dodging his father's flying kicks were what he worried about in the morning instead of a hollow attacking him in his blankets under the sky of Hueco Mundo. Where karate was just a past time instead of a means for survival.

Where constant death hadn't become so goddamn normal.

What had happened to it all?

"_Ichigo."_

He reached up and wiped the rain from his face. Yeah it was the rain, he wouldn't let it be anything else, and he turned to face his two spirits.

They stood next to one another, Shiro wearing his bleached Shihakusho and Zangetsu garbed in his usual flowing black cloak. Shiro had his arms crossed, and his expression was thunderous to match the weather. Zangetsu had his arms concealed, no doubt hidden in his cloak behind his back, with his calm stone faced demeanor in place as usual.

"So. It looks like Kisuke messed up huh," he said to the two, voice flat and humor very much dead.

"_Indeed, it would appear that the shop keeper was…off with his aim," _Zangetsu said, with no change in either voice or expression, as he turned and walked away from them.

Ichigo was surprised to see that Zangetsu was much…calmer than he'd expected. Earlier when they'd first realized their situation he'd sounded positively murderous.

However, the Quincy spirit had always been more level headed than either Ichigo or Shiro, so Ichigo wasn't terribly surprised. Zangetsu had no doubt already started planning. Of course Shiro was still looking seconds away from laying waste to their inner world. His anger was palpable, practically vibrating the air around him.

"_**Where the hell are we in time?" **_Shiro seethed, arms still crossed and with his teeth clenched.

Ichigo shut his eyes while glowering, and took a moment to think, "If we're back so far that Kaien Shiba isn't even a shinigami yet than who knows how far off we are. I doubt we will know where we really are in time until we go to the living world. If I were to guess, we're probably somewhere in the 18th century, maybe even 17th century."

Ichigo paused to do the math in his head, his stomach sinking further when he saw the full picture, and he corrected himself.

"No, if Rukia was a shinigami for near one hundred years, and Kaien had been her Lieutenant when she was just joining than that could push us back even further. I know Kaien didn't take long to rise to Lieutenant according to Kukaku, but who knows what the time difference between Rukia joining and Kaien becoming a lieutenant was. Kukaku said that Kaien had put off achieving bankai for years just to stay Ukitake's lieutenant. Being bankai ready takes decades, and even centuries as a normal shinigami to achieve no matter how skilled. That adds even more time, and this Kaien hasn't even gone to the academy. We could very well be 4 or 5 centuries in the past for all we know."

Ichigo didn't know what to do. This revelation was mind blowing. He was only 26, and the prospect of 500 years being ahead of him before he could act was almost physically painful. As it was the rain started falling harder the more the shock wore off, swiftly turning into pelting large bullets of water. He hadn't wanted to think about it, but he couldn't escape the truth of their situation when it was right in front of all of them.

Zangetsu peered at Ichigo over his shoulder, as Ichigo also turned away from them to face the ledge once more. Shiro was visibly shaking in place, white fists clenched tight in rage.

"_**What the fuck do we do now then?!"**_ Shiro shouted almost desperately into the wind, flinging his hands out in front of him.

Ichigo was thinking very much the same thing.

What could they do?

"_We wait, bide our time, and increase our strength." _Zangetsu said, turning to face them once more.

"_Kisuke Urahara may have sent us back further than intended, but what was an accident may in turn become a blessing."_

"_**The hell is that supposed to mean?! We're stranded! I want to rip Aizen's head off right NOW! How could being stuck centuries in the past be a blessing in anyway?" **_Shiro ranted, screaming at Zangetsu in his rage.

For Zangetsu's part, his expression changed very little in the face of his hollow's anger. Ichigo didn't say anything, though he was just as confused as Shiro was. What was _that_ supposed to mean?

"_Don't you see? If we had gone back 10 years, then everything Aizen had done would have remained the same. Aizen Sosuke would indeed be dead, but Kaien Shiba would also be dead along with the entire Shiba clan. The Visored would still be hollowfied, and Kisuke Urahara and Tessai Tsukabishi would both still be exiled." _

He paused then and looked over at Ichigo's still turned back.

"_And above all, Masaki Kurosaki would also still be dead."_

_That_ made Ichigo whip around to face them, and his expression shattered like a porcelain plate.

"_This is our chance to fix all of these things. We are now in the position to not only kill Aizen Sosuke before the war can ever begin, but also repair everything that Aizen has broken in this world. That is why this may very well be a blessing. In the end, several hundred years of time to train and further hone our skills is a small price to pay in comparison to what we would be gaining in return," _He paused and regarded both of them before laying eyes on Ichigo once more.

"_Wouldn't you agree Ichigo?"_

Ichigo's mind was blown for the umpteenth time, and what was once simmering agony was turning into fragile hope. Leave it to Zangetsu to make them see the big picture. A picture that showed just what Kisuke had given them inadvertently or not. This was more than a chance to kill Aizen.

This was a chance to change the world.

"I agree."

* * *

><p>Kaien dried his black hair with a towel before throwing on a soft navy blue kimono and tying his katana to his obi sash. He walked down the hallways, trying to be mindful of the creaks in the wood so as not to wake the other occupants of the house at this early hour. He always woke up around 6:00 to practice in the yard, running through his katas, and sometimes even throwing in hakuda or kido when he felt like it.<p>

He stopped in front of his sibling's door and gently pushed it open. He peered inside, mindful of the light trying to enter the dark room from behind him, and checked to see that both were safe and in their beds. He hadn't admitted it to anyone except himself yet, but last night had been terrifying for him. Not for his own safety, but for theirs. The sight of his little brother and sister set him at ease, serving as a reminder that they were indeed safe. Kukaku was tucked under her sheets calm as could be, but Ganju was on top of his with his arms and legs flailed out around him. He was snoring a little, and was sleeping like a log.

Kaien smiled to himself, happy that the two of them had managed to sleep after what happened the night before. The sight of a hollow could shake up anyone, and for children it was doubly so.

He gently let the door slide shut, and turned to head outside.

* * *

><p>Kukaku cracked an eye open after the door shut. She waited a few moments for the sound of Kaien's feet to fade before she threw off her own blankets. She got up and crept over to Ganju's bed, and looked down at her little brother. He was snoring with his limbs flung all over the place, and he wasn't even under his blankets. He looked like an idiot.<p>

He was closer to her than to the other side of the bed, so she walked over to that side, assessed the situation and took aim.

One foot to the side later launched him out of bed, and onto the floor with a thud. Ganju woke with a cry from the other side of the bed, before he jumped to his feet and almost yelled at his sister, half-awake dismay painted across his face.

"Nee-chan! Why did you do that!?"

Kukaku glared at him, and replied in a hushed tone, "Because idiot, you were asleep. I wanted to wake you up."

"But…but why did you kick me?!" Ganju cried still on the verge of yelling.

Kukaku growled and launched herself over the bed, stood up and with a hand cocked planted her fist squarely in her little brother's face. He yelped, reaching up to hold his clocked nose, and fell back onto Kukaku's bed.

"Shut up Ganju! Do you want nii-san to know we're awake? We're going to go watch Kaien-nii train. Come on and keep your mouth shut!"

Ganju quieted at that, partially in fear of Kukaku, and also because he wanted to watch his big brother too. If Kaien knew they were awake, he'd stop training, and either do stuff with them or make them go back to bed. His big brother was so cool though, and he really wanted to watch him train instead of sleep.

They both crept to the door, Ganju trying his best to be silent behind Kukaku to avoid anymore of her wrath, and they followed in their brother's wake.

* * *

><p>Kaien slid the door to the backyard open, and stepped out into the crisp morning air. The humidity was high with the sun not yet up enough to evaporate the dew and mist. It created a cool, but wet morning with just the barest hint of breeze to ruffle his hair and shake the leaves in the trees.<p>

He loved this weather. It wasn't hot in the slightest, but just cool enough to be comfortable to train in.

He looked around the yard, and was startled at the figure he'd initially failed to notice. There, blending in with the shadows under the tree, sat Ichigo. Or at least he assumed it was Ichigo, considering he'd never seen the guy's face. The hooded clothes matched though, and he had a pair of swords across his lap, and appeared to be meditating.

Huh. He'd kind of assumed Ichigo would be long gone by now. He was pleasantly surprised to see that he was wrong. That meant he still had the chance to ask him for training. Yesterday, Ichigo had given off the impression of not having anything to actually do with his time, and seemed to want to go back to his wandering. It had been pure luck really that Ichigo had been on hand to help at all last night. So his hopes rose a little at the sight of the shinigami still being around.

Yesterday, apart from helping them the shinigami had also successfully humbled Kaien. Ichigo may not have even known that he had done so, but it had still happened. Kaien was well aware that Ichigo could beat him into the ground, and there would be nothing Kaien could do about it. Hell that hollow would have probably defeated him in the end, which meant that they would have had to run for their lives. That was why he wanted the shinigami's help so badly.

He really needed it.

He walked up to Ichigo, and drew his sword as he approached. Its weight settled nicely into his hand, and though he knew he might not stand a chance, the sword still granted him the confidence to do what he needed to.

He came within a few meters of Ichigo, and before he even stopped Ichigo's eyes cracked open. Ichigo's gaze pinned Kaien in his place without even the move of a muscle.

The gaze was solid. Inquisitive, unwavering, and assessing all at once. It pierced Kaien, and he had to resist the urge to squirm under the look. It was like Ichigo was staring right into him, gauging his worth. He didn't look away from Ichigo though. He didn't dare. He didn't know why, but he felt that if he looked away now it would have long lasting consequences. Consequences that he wouldn't like.

He gripped his sword tighter, and raised it into his basic forward two handed stance. He stared down the length of the blade at the still seated Ichigo, and hesitated for the barest measure of time. He wouldn't back down now though.

He lunged.

* * *

><p>The rain was still falling, but it had slowed to a light drizzle with the latest revelation. The prospect of saving so many more people besides those lost in the war, including Ichigo's own mother, had lifted his spirits tremendously. They still had much to talk about however.<p>

"I don't think we should stop the hollowfication of Shinji or the others," Ichigo said without warning to his two spirits.

They'd been discussing events back and forth for close to half an hour now trying to decide what actions they could take to counter all of Aizen's known exploits. However, this statement from Ichigo startled both of them.

"_You know the pain and struggle that comes with the presence of an inner hollow, why subject them to that once more?"_ Zangetsu replied, and both ignored the grumble of affront from Shiro.

"True, it is a struggle and hard work, but you remember what Shinji said," Ichigo replied as he turned away again while crossing his arms, "He told me that when all was said and done, he was actually kind of happy to have been hollowfied. Sure it had sucked in the beginning, but it turned out to be a never ending vacation of sorts in the living world for all of the Visored. Shinji had joked around, but the lack of paperwork was supposedly a serious bonus as well. Not to mention it gave them all extra power that turned out to be necessary many times over the years. Even saved their lives or the lives of others on several occasions."

He paused to let his words sink in a little before supplying his main reason, "My main concern though is if we step in to save them, than Aizen would be alerted to us. Plus, if we pulled it off without Aizen discovering us, which I _highly_ doubt, then he'll just choose some other group to hollowfy. A group we won't know anything about. It will leave us with a future we can no longer predict with certainty. Besides…"

Ichigo looked back then with a fire in his eyes.

"When we kill Aizen we'll be able to clear their names. They'll be free to do as they want. The Visored, and the other exiles as well. I won't settle for less, and I won't give Yamamoto the option of saying no."

Suddenly an idea came to Ichigo and his eyes lit up further.

"Plus, this time around I'll be here to help them. From what Kisuke and Shinji had said, the early years of the hollowfication had been a lot of forward struggle through trial and error. They didn't know how to handle their hollows. We'll be able to show them how to stay sane and gain their masks…and this time we'll make them so powerful that none of those idiots from soul society would dare hunt them down."

Shiro perked up at that, having the same idea as Ichigo.

"_**You think we can? You know learning it is pretty hard Aibou. Only Shinji gained it too in the end. You think you could help them learn 'That'?"**_ despite his hollow's doubts, Shiro's mouth still twisted into a smile of sadistic satisfaction at the very idea.

Ichigo let his mouth twitch up in response, "Yeah, this time around we'll have decades instead of months. We'll get them there."

He glanced over at Zangetsu then.

"If I could earn Resurreccion then so can they."

Zangetsu nodded absently, and then called to Ichigo.

"_Someone is approaching Ichigo. I believe it to be Kaien Shiba. You should leave, we will speak more on this later."_

Ichigo nodded, closed his eyes, and let the pull drag him out of his inner world of pouring rain and broken metal.

* * *

><p>His eyes opened to the sight of Kaien Shiba standing a few meters away blade drawn. He didn't sense any hostility, but he didn't rise, nor did he move in the slightest so as not to make the situation worse. The kid had his blade drawn? Why? Ichigo met Kaien's eyes.<p>

Ah, that was why.

He could see it there. It was the same look that he'd had numerous times before. He'd worn it when training with Kisuke and even Kyoraku. It didn't show on Kaien's face, it wasn't there that you could see it, you had to look into the eyes. His face was set in a straight mask, but his eyes were like open books.

He had his blade drawn for several reasons, more reasons than could be counted, and all reasons that Ichigo could personally identify with. Even Kaien probably didn't known his main reason for drawing his blade, much like Ichigo had been years ago.

Ichigo was more than happy to help him figure it out, so when Kaien lunged at him in a downward strike he was already moving.

In the time it took Kaien to raise his blade and span the distance between them, Ichigo had already found his feet, sheathed his katana, and met his opponent with wakizashi in hand.

Kaien's blade was met with a veritable brick wall. Even with both his hands on the blade pushing with all he had, Ichigo had easily parried his downward strike with his wakizashi. Ichigo's sword wasn't even quivering, and the man only had one hand on the hilt!

Ichigo thrust their joined blades to the side, causing Kaien's weight to shift off balance. Ichigo almost lazily brought his blade around once more in a horizontal strike that would have bisected Kaien had he not hastily blocked as best he could. The weight behind the one-handed strike rattled Kaien's arms, and he struggled to keep the zanpakuto from cutting his middle.

Kaien disengaged, and jumped back to avoid the swipe coming toward him. He initiated the best shunpo he could, and with limited training from his tutors that wasn't saying much. Still he hoped to at least get behind Ichigo, and maybe even surprise the retired shinigami. He blurred lightly around Ichigo, and thrust at his back.

The air left his lungs in an explosion of force as his chest was slammed. He flew back several meters, and he was greeted with the sight of Ichigo lowering his leg almost casually.

Kaien steadied himself, and found his breath with a cough. He rubbed the pained area on his chest that had damn near capsized under the kick. Damn, obviously the retired shinigami wouldn't be caught un-aware.

Suddenly, Ichigo materialized right before him and was upon him, and it was all Kaien could do just to keep his head. Every strike was staggering, and despite the apparent slow speed of the blade, Ichigo gave each strike just enough speed to leave almost no room in-between for retaliation. All Kaien could do was block, dodge, and very rarely actually try for a strike.

He stopped trying to shunpo away to create distance after the first few tries. Every time he did Ichigo was practically right there in his face again, and Kaien was at it once more. Kaien knew there wasn't much more he could do without using Kido, and that would take time. He still required the incantation for the few he knew, and using them exhausted him.

He kept fighting with all he had though, if anything just to prove his worth. Even if Ichigo wouldn't train him, he wanted to know where he stood and where he needed to improve.

He was tiring though, even without having used kido. His arms were straining each time their blades met, and Ichigo was showing absolutely no sign of slowing down. It was starting to look like in his future training he pretty much needed to improve _everywhere_. Kaien decided right then in the face of that, to make one mad unpredictable dash for a strike.

Kaien dodged beneath another cross slash, and shunpoed around Ichigo again, but this time he didn't stop. He shunpoed another four more times in random directions trying to confuse his opponent. He finally came to a stop once more right in front of Ichigo, right back where he had been standing at the beginning, and twisted to thrust around and into Ichigo's guard. His katana managed to slip past Ichigo's own wakizashi, but in the blink of an eye it was over.

There was the ring of metal, a double tap on his blade, a spark, and then suddenly Ichigo's wakizashi was at his throat.

Kaien's katana was imbedded halfway into the tree in the center of the yard.

In the ensuing silence Ichigo's quiet voice rang loud and clear,

"Yield?"


	3. Give Them My Regards

**Disclaimer - I do not own anything from Bleach**

* * *

><p>Warnings: AU, Time Travel, Ichigo-centric, violence, language<p>

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><p><strong>Author's note: Yeah...so someone asked for another Chapter right? Thanks for the reviews Ladies and Gentlemen.<strong>

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><p>Chapter 3: Give Them My Regards<p>

The sun was fully up by now, and the morning glow of post sunrise lit up the back yard. The wind had picked up a little more, and leaves were blowing in from the tree line. Everything seemed to be moving. All around sounds of nature could be heard, the start of the day waking any and all of the wildlife that lived out in the rukongai. Birds flew overhead, their calls sounding from every direction, and the grass bent and swayed in the wind.

Yet in the presence of all that, time seemed to have frozen for two figures. Locked in a standstill with neither moving a muscle.

Kaien stood disarmed at the mercy of Ichigo's wakizashi. The cold steel resting against his neck, not quite biting into the flesh of his jugular. Kaien dare not move though, if anything out of fear of accidentally slicing his own throat on the razor sharp edge of the zanpakuto. His adrenaline was still roaring through him, but it was slowly fading and he could already feel the exhaustion settling in. His shoulders slumped slightly in recognition of defeat.

"I yield," Kaien replied quietly.

Time started once more, and with a flick of his wrist, Ichigo deftly withdrew his wakizashi and sheathed it with a quiet singing of metal. He turned and walked past Kaien, brushing their shoulders lightly and Kaien turned with him. He stopped before the tree at the center, and the still quivering hilt of Kaien's blade that was embedded there. He reached up and gently grasped it before with a tug pulled the half embedded blade from the trunk with seemingly no effort. He tossed it to Kaien who comically fumbled to catch the blade without hurting himself in the process. It bounced between his hands before he finally got a firm hold on it, and with a sigh sheathed his own blade as well.

Kaien looked down at his katana and frowned. He had known that it was going to turn out like that somewhat, but internally he was pretty disappointed. He'd hoped to have fared at least a little better than he had. He'd been training for years now even if it was on his own, but in the end, Ichigo had managed to show him once more just how much he really needed help, much like the night before. If he was ever going to gain the strength he needed to help others, and protect those he cared for, than he needed to improve.

As far as he could tell, Ichigo was that help.

Kaien was nervous, but he squared his shoulders and pushed the feeling away. With or without Ichigo he'd still train harder, but he knew that if he really wanted to get anywhere at all than Ichigo was the way.

The shinigami stood looking on only half turned in Kaien's direction. He couldn't see what Ichigo's expression was with his damn hood still shadowing his face, but he gave off the impression of expectant waiting. Like he knew that Kaien wanted to ask him something, and was willing to silently wait for him to get his shit together.

All at once Kaien was nervous again under that stare. He couldn't help it. He had expected something like it, but the shinigami had honestly made him look like a child. The guy was powerful, and when he thought about it he was also fairly…menacing. He knew that shinigami wore a black shihakusho, and while the man certainly had proven himself beyond a shadow of a doubt to be a shinigami, his outfit definitely wasn't standard issue. While he did in fact wear hakama, there was no kosode to go with it. Instead, he wore a long-sleeved, black, hooded coat above his hakama. The coat was formfitting, and was connected at the middle near the chest, along with a pitch black obi sash around the waist of his hakama. It even had a hood hanging far over his face to shadow all but his mouth.

What was probably most menacing about the overall picture the shinigami painted was that the thing practically moved with him. Every step was like watching a shadow. He couldn't ever really see it clearly, but out of the corner of his eye it was almost as if the damn thing moved on its own even when the shinigami was just standing there. Like shifting shadows in his peripheral, and any time he looked there was no indication that the coat had done anything at all.

It was intimidating to say the least. Ichigo's visage was different from any shinigami he had ever seen, and in all honestly he fit the picture of God of Death better than any of them.

To ask someone like that, an enigma with power beyond him, to train him was definitely difficult.

But he had to.

He looked up and met Ichigo's eyes, or at least where he assumed his eyes were.

"Will you train me?"

The words echoed in the silence just like their blades had minutes prior. Once again time seemed to have stopped for the two or at least it did for Kaien, and while the world continued on around them all was quiet to them.

Ichigo stood there silent as the grave. He didn't even react to the question Kaien had asked, and for a second Kaien thought he hadn't heard him. Nervousness welled up again, and he almost voiced the question twice, but Ichigo turned away from him fully and replied first in a way he had half expected.

"No."

The word was quick, and gripped Kaien's heart like a vice only to throw it down into the depths of his stomach. His head fell, and disappointment welled up inside him even as his fists clinched. It wasn't enough though. Not yet, he wouldn't give up just like that.

"Why won't you?"

He almost cringed at his own voice, he sounded like an unruly child. He wouldn't let this go yet though. He needed it, and until he found out why he'd keep asking.

Ichigo didn't turn back, but his sigh could be heard across the yard.

"Why would I? I don't know you, and I don't know your motivations. I could feel the resolve in your blade, but what I felt was not the right kind of resolve for someone searching for training," Ichigo looked over his shoulder then, "I felt a desire to prove yourself, to see where you stood with me as your opponent. While that is all fine and well, that is not a reason to gain strength. To help you gain strength for strength's sake is a waste of yours and my time. Power without direction is useless, and power without a worthy goal is wasted."

* * *

><p>Ichigo watched as the words sank in, and while he had meant them he also knew that what he'd said was partly a lie. While the fight had been one for Kaien to prove himself, Ichigo knew that wasn't why he wanted training. He had denied him for one purpose. He wanted Kaien to tell him the real reason, and not just so Ichigo could know it, but so that Kaien could say it aloud. Kaien needed to understand his own reasons to gain strength, and forcing him to face it now was for the best if Ichigo would in fact train him. Ichigo wanted to know if Kaien was worth his time.<p>

The response he received though wasn't what he'd expected.

"But I have good reasons to gain strength! I only wanted to prove myself to you right now! I don't want to gain power for no reason, I want it to protect my family and those close to me!"

It was like Ichigo had been slapped, and he almost visibly recoiled from it.

It was a good thing his back was still turned.

This had to be some sort of sick joke that the universe was playing on him. He'd known that he'd looked like Kaien, and on occasion some of his friends who had known him said that he and his dead cousin shared similar tendencies. But this?

He did his best to tune out his hollow's howls of laughter.

Damn it.

With just those words there was no way in hell that he couldn't train him now, and with another barely audible sigh Ichigo resigned himself to that fact. With what was to come, if the guy was to survive then he'd need it, especially if Ichigo wanted to keep him alive. He'd do it for Kukaku and Ganju if nothing else, but Kaien didn't know that, and so he continued pleading with him. He threw his arm out to the side, and his voice thrummed with a resolve that Ichigo could easily recognize.

"Is that not enough? I told you before, I respect the shinigami above all, and I strive to follow the path they walk. They devote their lives to the protection of the souls of the afterlife, and I want to do the same. I strive not only to protect those close to me, like my family, but as many as possible. I know I can't help everyone, but I still want to do what I can, and as I am now I can't! You can understand that? Right? The desire to help and protect others? You wouldn't have helped us last night if you didn't!"

His shoulders slumped again, but didn't stop. Ichigo was perfectly willing to let this play out. He knew the end result anyway.

"I can't go to the academy yet no matter how much I want to. It could be decades before my family will let me, even if one day I will. Between now and then though, I can't protect my little brother and sister. You saw what happened last night. I fought for all I was worth, but if you hadn't shown up then I don't want to know what would have happened. I need strength, not for myself, but for those around me. Not for some petty reason like simple contest."

He trailed off as his rant came to an end, and the yard was quiet once more. When Ichigo didn't say anything at all in response Kaien let his arm drop again, and he straightened, obviously disappointed. However, his grim features spoke of recognition.

"If you will not help me then I will not fault you for it. I get it. You don't know me, and you owe me nothing. I will train on my own then. You have no reason to-"

"Fine."

"…eh?"

Ichigo cut him off abruptly, and turned fully toward him.

"I said fine. I'll train you."

Kaien's jaw dropped momentarily and his eyes lit up in excitement, but he took a step back when Ichigo abruptly started approaching only to stop a few feet away.

"On one condition."

Kaien blinked owlishly at that, but was too stunned to say a word.

"I will train you only if you use what I teach you to do exactly as you just said. You wish for strength, yes? The strength to protect others? Fine. I'll help you get it. If you do as I say, follow my instructions, and I will lead you to the path to protect. However…"

He leaned forward at that, raising his reiatsu a little and directing it at Kaien. Best to make this clear from the very start.

"If you use your power in a way that goes against what you just said. If you use your strength for wrong. Then I will come find you Kaien Shiba, and I will make you regret ever being born."

Ichigo leaned back again, and swiftly turned away. Kaien straightened again where he stood and wiped the sweat from his brow. He fumbled for a bit, his mouth opening and closing where he stood. He'd obviously hadn't expected _this_ turnabout. After a few moments though, he seemed to grasp what had just gone down, calmed himself, and looked at Ichigo with gratitude that could be heard in his voice.

"Th-thank you Ichigo. I owe you now more than ever, and I-I swear I will never use my power for wrong."

Ichigo didn't doubt it. All of the stories of Kaien had painted him as a righteous and good man, not to mention a powerful shinigami. Besides, if he was anything like Ichigo then there wouldn't be a problem. In a way, he was glad it turned out this way. It would give him something to do with his time, and from what he could see he had a lot of time to spare.

All at once the bushes exploded from by the house, and out of them sped two small blurs of color. In seconds both had flown across the yard, and slammed into Kaien knocking him to the grass in a mess of limbs.

Ichigo didn't bat an eye. He'd known the two had been there since the start, but hadn't bothered to blow their cover. He walked back to the house, and left behind the squealing pile in favor of the food within. He had much to think on, and he couldn't do that while surrounded by a bunch of supposed dead people.

* * *

><p>"Why did you decide to train me?" Kaien enquired quietly over the cup of tea in his hand.<p>

Ichigo straightened at that, but didn't look away from the fire. They both sat in the study, with the shelves of books lining the walls, and the shadows cast by the flame danced amongst the dusty tomes. Evening had come once more, and the kids were both asleep again. They'd taken up most of Kaien's time during the day, drilling him with questions over and over about what was going to happen from then on. The two retainers had supplied them with tea, and Kaien had joined him in the house study some time ago. Up until the question, both had been content to just sit in companionable silence, even if there was an elephant in the room.

The question had been clear though, and Ichigo thought about it for a few minutes.

Well, he had a lot of reasons. The first that came to mind ironically was that he was somewhat excited to be put in the role of the teacher for once. He'd always been the student, first with Kisuke, then Yoruichi, and even long into the war Shunsui had been his teacher.

Another reason was that this seemed like as good a place to start working against Aizen's schemes as any. Supposedly, Aizen had had a hand in the death of his cousin long ago much like he'd had a hand in so many other deaths before he had publicly gone rouge. If Ichigo could train Kaien to the point that he would be able to overcome any obstacle, then that was just one more blade to put against Aizen's throat when the time came.

Another was for the sake of Kukaku and Ganju, and the entire Shiba clan as a whole. Though they might not know it now, or probably ever know it for that matter, they were still his family. Kaien's death had, according to Kukaku, been the turning point in their family's history. The pebble that had started the avalanche to the fall of the Shiba Clan as a noble house, resulting in the huge string of assassinations ordered by Central 46, and led by the Onmitsukido to kill off the majority of the clan all for trumped up false crimes cooked up by Aizen himself. In the end, most of the family had ended up dead, and the few survivors spread to the four winds across the rukongai.

He wouldn't let _that_ happen again.

Of course all of these reasons he couldn't tell to Kaien. The poor kid had no clue.

So he told him the final major reason he had, and the one that probably hit Ichigo the hardest.

"You remind me of myself. In more ways than one. I can't in good conscience leave here knowing that someone similar to me needed my help, and I didn't give it," Ichigo responded softly. He sipped his tea, and eyed the now thoughtful look on Kaien's face.

"Similar to you?"

Ichigo sighed quietly to himself. Sometimes it was really weird being around people that didn't know a thing about him anymore. It was also really weird, not to mention excruciating, being around a bunch of supposedly dead people now, but that wasn't the point. He was used to being surrounded by people who got him so easily. People who knew his motivations just as well as he did. They had known him, even total strangers knew him. He hadn't liked it, but he had been fairly famous at the beginning of the war before…everything went to shit. He'd been the 'Ryoka turned Hero'. A young kid, a 16 year old _human_, leading the charge against one of the afterlife's most infamous traitors. He had been that weird hybrid guy that had protected the Kuchiki princess, and was now trying his hardest to protect all of the afterlife. He was the guy they had all counted on.

He was also the guy who had failed in the end.

Of course no one had really been around to see his ultimate failure. The Rukongai had been essentially wiped out by year 7 of the war, all of those countless souls absorbed into the hogyoku in one way or another, fueling Aizen's never ending rise in power. After that the only people Ichigo had left to lose were those closest to them. The ones who had hurt to lose the most.

So when Kaien said he wanted to protect others, then you're damn right they were similar.

However, Kaien didn't know him. No one did. At least, not yet they didn't.

Well, he supposed, at least Kon wasn't here to mess up his image, especially when he was given the rare opportunity to completely recreate it.

"Yeah we are similar…I have people I want to protect too you know. I gained the strength I have now for that one and only purpose. For you to have that same desire, the same drive, well I just couldn't leave you in the dust."

Ichigo stood up from his arm chair, and took several steps closer to the fire. Kaien eyed him avidly, hanging on his every word.

"When I see you I see myself," Ichigo ignored Shiro's chuckle at the irony and continued, "When I stumbled upon you three that night, and I witnessed your struggle, even then I was able to catch a glimpse of what your motivations always were. I didn't have the full picture until you spoke today, but I knew it was a noble cause in any case. When I denied you, I wished for you to acknowledge your own motivations just like I had. Your true motivations."

Ichigo turned to Kaien then, and for the first time since he met the Shibas he removed his hood.

He didn't smile, but he allowed himself to enjoy the awe struck look on Kaien's face when he first laid eyes upon Ichigo's true appearance.

"You and I are a lot alike, in ways you probably haven't seen yet. We are protectors. Both of us strive to look out for our own no matter what the cost to ourselves."

Ichigo paused at that, and a stray memory caught him. The irony wasn't lost on him.

"The world has a way of turning its back on us. Fate always seems to take away from us that which we hold dear. How can you stand in the way of that? What must we do to protect everyone close to us?"

They had all had unjust fates. Struck down by an unstoppable madman in his quest for power. He'd make it right.

He looked back at Kaien's still awe struck face, obviously absorbing not only his appearance but also everything Ichigo said. He was so young that it was humorous to think the kid was actually older than him.

Once more he looked at the fire.

"If fate is a millstone, then we are the grist. There is nothing we can do. So you and I, we wish for strength. If we cannot protect them from the wheel, then we must wield a strong blade, and have just enough strength to shatter fate itself."

If fate deemed them all to die by Aizen's hand then he'd shatter that fate with his own two hands. No matter what the cost to himself. He'd come back again and again if he had to.

The room was quiet for a while after that.

"Who are you really Ichigo?"

Ichigo looked back at the still slightly gaping Kaien, and remembered once upon a time having the same face when he'd first laid eyes on the picture of his dead cousin back at Kukaku's home. It was…comical despite the circumstances.

"I told you who I am Kaien."

Ichigo turned away then, and walked into the shadows of the room towards the door.

"We start training two days from now, you hear? I'll be leaving tonight to run an errand, but I'll be returning sometime later tomorrow evening. Get some sleep, and prepare yourself for what is to come. I promise you Kaien, it will not be easy."

With a soft rustle the door opened and closed, Ichigo disappearing into the halls beyond.

Kaien sat in the study for several minutes more, not drinking his tea even as it grew cold in his hand.

Finally, after nearly ten minutes of awe struck confusion he awoke to the quiet room. He settled into his chair and stared into the fire. He took a sip some time later, grimaced, and put the now cold cup of tea down. The flames slowly died in the fire place, the embers glowing in the ashes.

Shatter fate eh?

In the light of the slowly darkening room his eager smile could barely be seen, but in the silence his declaration could be heard even from the hallway.

"Let's do it."

* * *

><p>Ichigo stalked down the dark hallway passing several doors on the way. He passed Kaien's bedroom, Koganehiko's and Shiroganehiko's shared room, and almost passed Kukaku and Ganju's shared room as well before something caught his eye and his senses rang little bells in his head. He paused in the dimly lit hall, the only light streaming in from the kitchen further on at the end, and turned to look into the darkness of the corner next to the kid's room.<p>

"Come on out Kukaku. I can see you hiding there."

The little girl stepped out of the shadow dressed in her pajamas, and for the first time in Ichigo's life she looked almost…_shy_. That was weird for Ichigo to see. He'd never seen nor ever expected Kukaku to ever be timid or shy about anything, even as a child.

He overcame his initial apprehension, and brushed aside the knee-jerk belief that it was a trap of some kind. He squatted down to be at her eye level, and beckoned her over. He thought about it for a second, and then decided on his best course of action. It pained him to do it, since he hadn't done it in years, plus doing it brought back memories. However, with the situation he thought using the voice he used on his own sisters would probably work best.

"What's wrong Kukaku? Why aren't you sleeping? It's late, you know."

She stood with her hands behind her back looking down at her feet, and she glanced up at him. She met his eyes for the briefest of moments before looking down again almost sheepishly, pink tinging her cheeks.

Ichigo blinked at that. It was…cute. Which was weird for obvious reasons. Kukaku and cute didn't mix. Something was horribly wrong with this situation, and he starting thinking that someone must have laid a trap for him here. That or the world was ending.

She opened her mouth for a second before faltering, like she was deciding what she wanted to say. Ichigo waited patiently, his expression soft so as to reassure her. When dealing with children his approach was to always be patient, and even though Kukaku used to punch him through walls on various occasions she was still a child in the here and now.

She looked up again, and in a quiet, uncertain voice asked her question, "Why do you look like my big brother?"

Ichigo stilled for a few seconds.

Damn. He'd forgotten to put his hood back up.

He fumbled minutely, but was quick to respond.

"I don't know Kukaku. I-I can guess, but I really don't know why. When I first saw your big brother I was pretty surprised too."

He glanced back the way he had come, over toward the study at the end of the hall before looking back at Kukaku's downcast eyes. He came to an amusing realization then.

"Were you spying on us Kukaku?" he enquired, barely keeping himself from sounding teasing.

She didn't look up, but Ichigo could see even in the dim light that her cheeks grew even pinker from embarrassment at being caught. She shuffled her feet a fraction, but didn't respond. It made Ichigo want to smile a little.

"You know I don't mind if you did right spy on us right?"

She looked up then and met his eyes again. His softer expression cleared a little of her embarrassment, and this time she nodded a little while replying.

"Yeah…I was listening to you two. I heard what you were talking about."

Ichigo's scowl softened even further before he spoke again.

"Well since you know what we were talking about, do you want to hear my guess on why we look alike?"

She gave him a little crooked smile and nodded again, so he continued.

"Kaien and I are a lot alike. We both look out for the people we care about. For Kaien, he really wants to look after you and Ganju. You're both his little brother and sister, and are two of the most important people in the whole world to him."

He pointed at himself then, "I'm the same. I have people I want to look after. We're protectors, and we can't help it. So my guess is, because we're so alike in everything else, we just had to look alike too."

She giggled when he finished, and shook her head.

"That doesn't make any sense," she said through the giggles.

The sight tugged at Ichigo's heart in a dreadful way, and he replied, "Well maybe it will make sense in the morning. Right now, you need to get some sleep. So hop in the bed before Kaien catches you."

She nodded happily, and almost turned away, but looked back at him again.

"You're gonna help Onii-san get stronger right?"

He nodded, "Of course. I told him I would help. Which means I'm probably gonna be sticking around for a while."

"You promise?"

Ichigo paused at that, her tone had wavered there. He idly wondered why…

"Yeah Kukaku. I promise."

All at once Kukaku rushed forward, and he was hugged by the small girl. She buried her face in his shoulder, and Ichigo was struck with terror, arms flailing a little out to the sides.

He wasn't accustomed to unexpected hugs…or hugs in general. He didn't know what to do with this, but slowly he calmed down, and tentatively wrapped his arms around her little shoulders.

She pulled back from him, and smiled at him.

"Thanks Ichi-ji."

On that note, she turned around, and quietly snuck back into her room leaving a stunned Ichigo in her wake.

Ichi-ji?

He stood there for a minute still stunned, and Shiro cackled in his mind.

Finally, he sighed and turned around, resolving to deal with that later. He stalked toward the entrance of the house, intent on getting what he had to do done before he started Kaien's training. The kid needed a real sword after all, and there was only one place to get it.

He stepped out into the cool night air, slowly shutting the door behind him. He turned and hopped up onto the roof of the house giving him a better vantage point. Off in the distance, over the trees and across the districts, the Seireitei loomed still standing out even in the dead of night. There, within the inner city, the Shin'o academy stood, and that was his target.

He leapt up once more, and disappeared into a rush of shunpo, vanishing into the night mist like a shadow.

* * *

><p>Shunsui sipped his sake, smiling at the familiar and welcome burn. The breeze wafted in through the open window next to him, caressing his face and ruffling his pony tail. He had thrown off his kimono and haori along with his sakkat to better enjoy the afternoon sun above.<p>

How he enjoyed times like this. Another beautiful day in the Seireitei, the sun rising in the sky, the cool breeze offsetting the heat making it just right to relax in. No paper work in front of him for the foreseeable future. A nice cup of sake to calm and relax him further.

He turned his head, and listened to the sounds drifting in through the open window. In the distance, if he strained his hearing, he could hear the hustle and bustle of the markets much further down the road. The restaurants within the Seireitei opening their doors, and shopkeepers busily working their stalls, calling back and forth between each other. Closer, overshadowing that noise, the younger shinigami were also making their own cacophony within the barracks and around. Also calling back and forth to each other, either shouting orders or simply just talking. Out in the field, the repetitive call of katas could be heard as the youngest members continued their training.

The familiarity warmed him. Oh he really did love this. The sounds and smells of the city, it all just felt like home.

"What are you doing in here again Shunsui?"

The resigned question drifted over his head, and Shunsui glanced up from his position on the floor, hiding behind the desk of his longtime friend Jushirou. Jushirou hadn't even deemed to look away from his own work to address him as he busily filled out form after form.

He smiled again, and took another sip of his sake before replying.

"I'm relaxing Juu-chan, something you should be doing as well."

A sigh also drifted over his head at his response.

"Why must you do it here though Shunsui? Don't you have your _own_ division to run? Besides, haven't you paperwork in need of your attention? You know Yamamoto-Soutaichou is going to get onto you again if you don't do it."

Shunsui frowned at that, he didn't want to think about _that_ right now.

"Bah, you know that stuff is just a waste of time Jushirou, it should have done the world a favor and gone and caught fire by now," he set down his sake, closed his eyes, and lay back on his tatami mat.

"I can't relax anywhere else anyway, if I was at my own office then my lieutenant would be there along with the paperwork. That isn't a relaxing atmosphere Juu-chan, and you know it."

Jushirou shook his head but didn't reply, and once more the office quieted save for the shuffling of papers. Shunsui leaned forward again and stood up from his position on the floor to walk around Jushirou's desk and over to the far window. He peered out into the yard below, eyeing the shinigami who trained. They all stood in orderly lines repeating their strikes over and over again into the air, and every time they'd call out the name of each strike. The sight made him think on his own training, and he idly wondered if maybe he too should brush up his skills a bit.

Nah.

He had better things to do, like writing his romance novel.

Although…with what had been going on recently, maybe he should look into it.

He sighed quietly to himself so as not to draw Jushirou's attention. The event from the 78th had them all on edge, including himself. He didn't show it like some of the others, but he was. The majority of the younger captains didn't know what he knew. What he, Jushirou, and Retsu knew.

That reiatsu had been one of the most powerful things they'd ever felt. None of the captains save them had ever actually seen the Soutaichou go all out, so they didn't really have the same perspective the three of them had. The perspective to see that that reiatsu had been equal in power if not surpassing Yama-jii himself. Sure it was very different from Yama-jii, _very different_, but it honestly felt as if the old man had released his zanpakuto to its limit right there in the Rukongai.

His thoughts turned to Yama-jii. Their old sensei had been restless these past few days. He didn't blame him. Something was out there, something powerful, and it had up and disappeared on them. Satoru Shihouin had already been told to send out the Onmitsukido to get to the bottom of it, but Shunsui doubted that it would really help. If whatever was out there was really as powerful as it appeared then there was little to no chance of it being found. They'd all felt its reiatsu disappear completely several times so it could obviously conceal itself, and besides, the Rukongai was a big place. It wouldn't be found unless it wanted to be found.

The younger shinigami were all restless too, from the seated officers down to the fresh graduates. Everyone had felt the disturbance, and so everyone was asking questions. No answers were given obviously, it wasn't like they had any, and rumors were starting to run wild.

Whispers of Vasto-lorde, and hollow invasions were filling the hallways. Shunsui knew it wasn't the Vasto-lorde, but there wasn't much he could say to convince them otherwise. What would he tell them? No it wasn't a hollow, it had been a shinigami's reiatsu. _That_ would just lead to a mountain load of new questions.

Although, that reiatsu signature had been strange.

That was another thing they were so confused on, whatever it was had been slightly hollow in nature while not hollow at the same time. That was new.

"Shunsui, why are you really here?"

The question came from behind him abruptly, and this time there wasn't any exasperation in it. It was quiet and expectant.

Ah, Jushirou always knew him best. Even during the academy Juu-chan had always been able to see right through his bullshit.

He turned back to face Jushirou, meeting his eyes before replying wearily.

"Do you have any idea what's going on Jushirou, because at this point I really don't know what to think."

Jushirou looked at him for a few seconds before he closed his eyes, put down his pen, and folded his hands in front of him. Shunsui didn't interrupt him, instead walking back over to sit by his sakkat and kimono, and pouring himself another cup of sake while he was at it.

Eventually his best friend opened his eyes again and spoke quietly.

"We sensed what was out there. Something strong originating from the 78th. Right before the pulses hit us however Chojiro-fukutaichou had come into sensei's office to alert us of something else. The 12th division had apparently noticed something long before the reiatsu was released."

He paused and glanced down at Shunsui who was now nudging his arm. He rolled his eyes, but took the proffered cup of sake that Shunsui had magically conjured up anyway.

"When Chojiro managed to finish his report he said that the 12th had picked up a signature that showed that a portal of some kind was opened in the 78th. The energy signature was completely different from a garganta, and we can also safely rule out the use of a senkaimon. Regardless, there was still a portal of some kind that opened right before the reiatsu pulses started. I'd think it's safe to assume the two are connected."

He paused once more to collect his thoughts, and take a sip of sake, grimacing at the burning feeling that made him almost cough. Shunsui piped up first with a curious but subdued question.

"What do you think it was if it wasn't a senkaimon or garganta?"

Jushirou shook his head even as he adopted a contemplative expression, "I haven't a clue. Though that's not what really concerns me here…"

Shunsui peered up Jushirou at that, his friend's tone worried him.

"What I want to know is, did who ever those pulses belong to come through that portal, or did they make that portal for someone else to come through into Soul Society."

Shunsui looked down again, grim features settling in. He hadn't thought of that.

"I see you've heard the rumors that are flying. Talk of invasions and Vasto-lorde?"

"I don't know about Vasto-lorde Shunsui, and I obviously don't know about any invasions either…but in all honestly, I don't think whoever is out there would even need an army behind them to invade and possibly destroy Soul Society. If they are in fact opening a portal somewhere from this side then they may very well be attempting to do that, but whoever was out there…their strength was substantial. Worrisomely so in fact. Plus, we can all agree that the signature didn't make sense."

"Indeed, it did not Ukitake-taichou," a new voice interrupted.

Both looked up to the sight of the door closing, and Kuchiki Ginrei entering Jushirou's office.

"Ah Kuchiki-taichou, welcome. How is your son Sojun?" Jushirou asked kindly, Shunsui raising his cup of sake in greeting as well.

Ginrei nodded at both of them sitting in the chair before Jushirou's desk.

"He is still recovering in the 4th, but Unohana-taichou claims he will be able to come home tonight and be back to work by tomorrow," Ginrei replied quietly.

He didn't often talk about it, but Ginrei always worried over his son's wellbeing. Even if Sojun had insisted, Ginrei had never liked the idea of him joining the Gotei 13 with his weakening health. There was already one Kuchiki representing the clan amongst the divisions in a high ranking spot, and with his son's health issues it was especially unnecessary. He was willing to talk about it with these two at least. Both were his senior as taichou despite their looks, not to mention both were members of noble families as well. The Kyoraku family was especially prestigious, and while the Ukitake family wasn't as much they were both still nobles. There was really only one other person among the captains he felt comfortable around, Satoru Shihouin, and that was for the same reason.

"That is good news Kuchiki-san. I'm glad to hear he is recovering," Kyoraku stated from below, "You heard what we were discussing, what did you think of the signature we discovered."

Ginrei had obviously come here to discuss the issue, as he would normally be in his own office right now working, and both of the captains knew it. He closed his eyes momentarily to think, no doubt gathering his thoughts for a few seconds, before replying.

"When we journeyed out to the 78th and happened upon the clearing, I spoke with my zanpakuto on that very topic. When we first sensed it I had dismissed it as impossible, and assumed it to just be a shinigami reiatsu with perhaps hollow reiatsu mixed in. Perhaps a hollow had been present causing the signature to be distorted. However, upon closer examination that proved false. He and I both agreed that the signature was primarily shinigami in nature despite this. Of that I have no doubt, but it also had an underlying current of hollow reiatsu. Both shinigami and hollow reiatsu were mixed evenly, with the shinigami side being dominant, and even with their conflicting natures, they still felt extremely similar. That alone proved it came from the same being."

He paused again, and cocked his head slightly as if listening to something. He continued shortly after.

"There are few options left to us, and as confusing and impossible as it is, I feel that there is only one real answer. No matter how ludicrous it sounds, evidence points to the existence of a shinigami hollow hybrid out there amongst the souls of the Rukongai, similar in nature to the naturally occurring arrancar."

Both Shunsui and Jushirou quieted down at that, neither wanting to speak in the silence that followed. They both agreed of course, and had been following that same line of thinking, but to actually say it aloud was another matter entirely. Nothing like this had ever happened in all the history of Soul Society.

Jushirou spoke up eventually, glancing at Shunsui and Ginrei in turn.

"What do you think we should do?"

Ginrei was contemplative once more before replying, "We must wait, Shihouin-taichou will have sent out men to investigate by now. If they cannot find anything, then I doubt anything we do will. The Soutaichou will no doubt speak to us if he has any plans in regards to this."

"I agree. Whatever is out there can hide, and is able to avoid us if it wants. There is only one of them for now, and while I hope it stays that way, it also means it will be nigh impossible to find. We must wait," Shunsui supplied as well. He poured a third cup of sake (Jushirou had no idea where he stashed them. He guessed Shunsui had them hidden around his office, but he could never find them when he looked), rose and offered it to Ginrei.

Jushirou scoffed internally at the idea, but his eyebrows soared into his hair when Ginrei actually accepted the cup offered to him.

_That_ was unexpected, but perhaps in light of recent events, maybe even a Kuchiki can drink when the occasion calls for it.

Kyoraku pulled his mat out from behind Jushirou's desk, sat down once more, and raised his cup.

They raised there's in turn, but no toast was to be made.

* * *

><p>Ichigo dropped out of shunpo in an alley several hundred meters from the northern gate. He had his hood on his head once more, and from its shadow peered out into the street at the passerby. He'd been shunpoing all last night, stopping to rest for only a few hours on the way, and had reached his destination near late morning.<p>

He was proud of that, that trip would have taken most other shinigami days to make. His speed with shunpo, especially after transcending, was ludicrous. He was confident that there wasn't a single person around, in this timeline or his own, that could ever hope to match him for speed. Back in his own time, Yoruichi had been the only person to be able to match him occasionally, and in the end he was faster than her more often than not. Something she thought was ridiculous.

There was no contest in his bankai of course, even against Yoruichi. His bankai's speed was just unfair.

He stepped forward some more, and remained in the shadow of the building whilst now peering around the corner to see the northern gate. There standing before it was one of the gate guardians, Danzōmaru if he remembered correctly. He was tall, massive in fact standing at near 35 feet, just like all of the gate guardians, with darker skin and garbed in the traditional shihakusho. He stood before the gate surveying the bustle of the northern 1st district before him.

The northern gate behind him was closed though.

Ichigo sighed in annoyance. Of course it was. He guessed he'd just have to wait for his opportunity, and hoped it wouldn't take all day.

Ichigo stepped out of the shadows, and weaved in between the carts and people as he crossed the wide street. Dust was kicked up all over, and he tuned out the annoying calls of shop keepers trying to grab his attention so he'd buy their wares. He'd have thought that the inherent dislike of the shinigami that most Rukongai citizens had would have kept them from waylaying him, but apparently the prospect of making money out weighed that. Plus, he didn't look like your average shinigami either. Some of the people around him probably didn't even think he was one. After all, his clothes were very different from the regular uniform. He had a twin bladed zanpakuto as well, which to most others probably made it look like he was just a wandering swordsman since twin blades were almost non-existent amongst the shinigami.

He entered the alley on the other side after making sure no one was looking at him anymore, and swiftly turned down a connecting alley so as not to draw attention to himself from the street. As soon as the coast was clear he vanished in shunpo again to land on a nearby flat topped building with a clear line of sight to the gate.

He settled down into a sitting position, and resigned himself to wait. A cart or something had to need passage through there eventually, and when it did he'd shunpo through faster than anyone would be able to see.

He'd get in, sneak over to the Shin'o Academy, have a look around while avoiding the students, and try and get his hands on a spare asauchi for Kaien to imprint on. Then they'd be able to get down to training him to become a shinigami. If all went well, when Kaien went to the academy for real he could graduate fast as could be, probably in one year instead of two this time, and enter into the Gotei 13 to tear through the ranks like tissue paper. He'd make Kaien as powerful as he could. He'd need all the strength he could get for the future after all.

"_Indeed,"_ Zangetsu cut in, _"According to Rukia and Kukaku, Kaien was slain by a hollow named Metastacia which had been sent by Aizen himself. The hollow killed not only Kaien Shiba, but his wife Miyako Shiba as well. If we wish for him to survive he must be strong enough to overcome that ordeal, including possibly saving his wife."_

'Kaien will survive, as will his wife. Now that I'm here I refuse to let even a single Shiba die because of Aizen's schemes. I will make sure of it,' Ichigo replied with vigor.

He sensed rather than saw Zangetsu nod in agreement, and then turned his thoughts back to watching the gate. As far as he could tell this might be a long wait.

Roughly an hour or more passed, and Ichigo was beginning to consider blasting the gate open and just making a run for it (something Shiro gleefully agreed with). He wouldn't of course, that would be a disaster, but his patience was wearing thin. Finally, after near two hours of sitting on that roof in the sun, with noon creeping closer, a cart full of crates pulled away from the regular roads. Ichigo instantly jumped to his feet eyeing its path up to the gate. He watched in anticipation as the gate keeper and the driver exchanged words. The driver handed up his paperwork, and it was somewhat comical to watch the gatekeeper squint down at the words on the tiny sheet of paper that fit in the palm of his massive hand. Eventually the gatekeeper nodded, passed the form back, and turned to grip the bottom of the gate. With a grunt and a mighty pull he lifted it high enough for the cart to pass underneath.

Ichigo flew into action, launching himself off of the roof and taking off in his fastest shunpo while sealed, which was still faster than some captains. The world blurred and he completely disappeared. He slipped by the gatekeeper without a problem save for a quiet stirring of the wind. He didn't stop and kept up his speed as he took off further into the central city. After a minute he came to a stop atop another building that he didn't recognize that had a clear view of the 13 division barracks about a mile away.

He nodded to himself at the successful entry. Piece of cake. The Gotei 13 really needed to work on their security. Of course that wasn't a big surprise, centuries from now when he first invaded the Seireitei their attempts of repelling his "invasion" had been poor at best.

He took off once more, using a mixture of bounds and shunpo heading in the direction of the Shin'o Academy. He flew over the crowds of shinigami and nobility walking in the streets below, soaring over Noble compounds and market streets alike completely invisible to the naked eye. He spotted the Academy on the far side of the 1st division and grew closer by the second. It was a good thing he'd learned to control his reiatsu he idly noted. If it wasn't they'd have seen him coming a mile away. As it was, his reiatsu was so firmly locked down now that unless you were standing within two to three feet of him you wouldn't even know he was there. He wasn't taking any chances with this.

He landed on the roof of the Academy's highest point, overlooking the central courtyard below. Crowds of students meandered around all wearing the academy uniform. A shihakusho that was identical to the standard except for the color scheme, white with blue lining for men and white with red lining for women. As the crowds chatted below, he peered around trying to remember where the zanjutsu department was. Rukia had shown him around giving him a tour of the Seireitei after he saved her from the execution, but that felt like a lifetime ago. After some squinting he managed to spot it several buildings away to the right of the main school building surrounded by practice fields and training halls.

He was about to take off when suddenly his focus was shattered. His head whipped around like lightning, staring down into the crowd below, his eyes scouring the sea of students. His senses lit up like fireworks, and he felt a signature, several signatures in fact, that he hadn't felt in years. He recognized them, but they felt…odd. Different in subtle ways from what he remembered, making him half feel like he had imagined it. When he was about to drive the feeling away, and return his attention to the task at hand he saw them.

There, standing in the courtyard below, stood three students in a little group talking. One short cropped head of silver hair, another bushy black afro, and a final head of long golden locks.

Kensei Muguruma, Love Aikawa, and Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi all stood down there chatting. Still students in the academy, and lacking any trace of hollow reiatsu.

The sight tore Ichigo apart.

"Oh God no."

He turned away from the sight. He felt like he was going to be sick, the urge to gag and vomit rising in his throat. He fought to keep his emotions in check along with his reiatsu.

Once more he damned Aizen to the deepest depths of hell.

Those were his friends down there. Fellow Visored, and people he held dear and had counted on in his darkest moments. The people who had counted on him in just the same way. The people that watched his back just like he had watched theirs.

The people he had watched die by his side one by one.

He desperately fought the urge to rush down there and see them, just to talk to them if nothing else, but the cold feeling of knowing that they wouldn't even know his face reminded him that he couldn't.

That same cold feeling of knowing he'd lost those friendships forever, and that his memories were a waste to him now.

He turned back once more for one last look at them. He watched as Kensei hefted his books with his free hand up to his shoulder, and the three shared a laugh over some joke he couldn't hear. Love even bent over double because he was laughing so hard.

He looked away, turning in the opposite direction, feeling the warm concern from Zangetsu. He clamped down on his rampant emotions.

Well…at least they were alive again.

He'd make sure it stayed that way.

He took off toward the zanjutsu department without looking back, blurring once more into the wind.

He listened with half an ear as Zangetsu spoke to him within his mind, trying to calm him as best he could.

"_Listen to me Ichigo, I know you feel pain from this, but you must remember that all of your friends are still the same people. Just because they do not know you now does not mean that you cannot know them once more. They will still be here, and they will once more be alive. That is the main reason why we came back in the first place. It was to ensure their safety, and to essentially bring them back from the dead. Having to re-forge those bonds, while painful, is the price that must be paid, and they __**will**__ be re-forged." _

Ichigo closed his eyes in the tearing wind, and nodded.

'I know Zangetsu…this is just going to take some getting used to.'

"_As in all things, we are here if you need us Ichigo_."

He landed once more on top of his destination, still trying to shake off the ice clamped around his heart, and peered over the side of the building on the deserted edge. Several floors down was an open window, and Ichigo nodded in satisfaction. He hopped off and caught a ledge on the way down to peer into the open window. Before him was an empty broom closet of some sort, and he clambered into it as quiet as he could. He approached the door and listened, and he could hear a few students passing by in the hallway. He stashed his wakizashi in his robe and as soon as it was quiet again he opened the door, threw off his hood, and casually strolled down the hallway. He turned several corners, passing students who all looked at him like he was a superstar. It was funny really, the sight of an actual shinigami walking amongst them always managed to stir the students up.

It reminded him of when he'd first visited the academy with Rukia, and several times after that. He'd been a celebrity at the time, and so the effect was amplified tenfold, but even now when a shinigami from any division visited all of the students tried their hardest to look good. They wanted a seat in a division after graduation after all since it wasn't mandatory for divisions to actually let a recruit in. He came to the end of a hall and concluded that he had no idea where to even begin looking.

Ichigo spotted a younger girl standing off to the side with her face buried in a book. He approached her silently, and mildly enjoyed the look of shock when she spun around after he tapped her on the shoulder.

She stood there for a few seconds wide eyed and with her mouth open, before stuttering out a hasty greeting,

"G-Good morning, S-Shinigami-sama, I didn't see you there."

He waved her off and she slowly relaxed. She was fairly pretty he noted, with a kind face and long black hair tied back in the bun that was common among the female students.

He replied to her in an easy tone, "Don't worry about it, I was actually wondering if you could help me out for a second?"

He let the question hang, and she nodded hesitantly.

"Could you tell me where the first year student training area is?"

She looked around confused for a moment before replying, "Ah…this is the first year area sir."

Ichigo honestly had no idea where he was in the building, but he was quick on the uptake.

"Good, that's what I thought. Could you point me toward where they keep the asauchi please? The ones they reserve for imprinting?"

She gave him a speculative look before slowly turning around and pointing down the hallway behind her.

"If you take the stairs at the end of this hall down two flights, then there is a hallway connecting this building to the training hall next door. In there they have the racks of unclaimed Asauchi they use in training."

Relieved, he nodded at her, "Thanks…?"

"Miyako, first year student."

He nodded again, "Thanks Miyako, I appreciate the help."

With that he took off down the hallway at a fast walk, leaving the still curiously watching student behind him. He wanted to get out of the building, just in case he started getting questioned by a teacher.

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><p>Ichigo dragged the unconscious body of the zanjutsu department head into a nearby closet.<p>

_That_ didn't go as planned.

He whispered a bakudo under his breath as he gathered the reiatsu needed.

"Bakudō #4: Hainawa."

The glowing golden rope shot from his hands, wrapping around the body of the man.

When he had moved to grab one of the asauchi leaning against the racks the department head had shunpoed up behind him loudly inquiring 'just what Ichigo thought he was doing'.

His instincts born from years of war had decided to act out of reflex, and he had spun and smashed his foot into the side of the man's face in a roundhouse kick a fraction of a second later. Ichigo had sent the poor man flying across the empty training hall like a rag doll instantly knocked out.

He picked up the asauchi again, and closed the door behind him locking it, leaving the man to be found by his students. He'd need to leave right then so he could be far away before the instructor woke up. He cursed his luck again, opened the first floor window, and shunpoed out into the Seireitei air.

It was heading into the afternoon now he noted, and if he really hurried he could make it back to the small compound in the 62nd by late evening. First though, he needed to get out of the Seireitei without bringing the entire Gotei 13 down on his head.

He blew past the first division barracks, noting the presence of the Soutaichou within, and several more before he stopped on a building across from one of the divisions.

He had another moment of recognition. He felt someone else he knew brush against his senses. He almost forced himself to leave right then, but…he couldn't quite do it. He knew this person well, recognizing them easily even if they hadn't been hollowfied yet. He could at least take a look, just to see from afar how they were doing.

He looked down and this time saw something that while partly made him want to break down, also made him want to crack up laughing.

There Hirako Shinji was, the past/future leader of the Visored, and another of Ichigo's dear friends. He was garbed in a regular shinigami shihakusho, no haori or even a lieutenant badge to accompany it. His hair was longer though, perfectly straight, and if Ichigo could see his smile, he'd probably see that same sly cheshire grin of his (the one that made you think you were 6 seconds from discovering the ridiculous trap he'd managed to put you in). Ichigo had happened upon him right as he was walking between the 7th and 5th weighed down with a huge stack of papers in his arms, completely oblivious to Ichigo's watchful eye.

He was unburdened despite the stack of papers, looking so young that it made Ichigo's heart ache a little. Ichigo couldn't even tell if the guy had the strength to be a seated officer yet. That was how young Shinji was now.

Still, seeing him…hurt. Even with the comical situation. The pain had been lessened by his new found prospects for the future, but it still hurt.

Ichigo was actually able to look on this time for a bit longer, and wear a sort of crooked smile that was still pretty much a scowl. With Zangetsu's word's fresh in his mind, he allowed himself to recognize just how funny the situation was.

He turned once more to leave, wishing Shinji good luck on his way to captaincy of the 5th, and found himself stopping again just a little further down the road. He peered from across the street into the open window and was greeted by the sight of two more of his old friends. Crowded in Jushirou Ukitake's Office were the kind white haired captain himself, along with Shunsui Kyoraku his old teacher, and another elderly, white haired Captain that Ichigo didn't recognize.

Was that Byakuya's scarf? It looked like it was. Probably a Kuchiki then.

Ichigo looked closer. Yep, there were the tekko on his hands. Definitely a Kuchiki.

He watched as the three finished talking, and raised there glasses of sake in a toast of some sort. He smiled at that too. He guessed that even now, they were still very much the same. That gave added weight to Zangetsu's words once more. Kyoraku still drank, and Jushirou was still kind. They always had been, and they always would be.

In the meantime, Ichigo knew it would still hurt. The sight of all his loved ones would be an open wound for a very long time to come. He had watched them die after all, struck down one way or another. Some of them hadn't become shinigami, and some weren't even born yet.

One day though, they could be his friends once more.

However, that day wasn't today.

That day would come after he had removed Aizen's head from his shoulders.

Finally, he turned again for the northern exit, shunpoing away from the divisions. He had a long road ahead of him, and a student in need of training.


	4. Leaving So Soon?

**Disclaimer - I do not own anything from Bleach**

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><p>Warnings: AU, Time Travel, Ichigo-centric, violence, language<p>

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><p><strong>Author's note: Soooooo today is my birthday, aaaaand I decided to give you all a present. Here is Chapter 4. Hope you enjoy!<strong>

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><p>Chapter 4: Leaving So Soon?<p>

Kaien smiled over at the two kids sitting at the table in the kitchen. It was sometime after dinner, and they were currently being tutored by Koganehiko on their arithmetic. Ganju for his part looked seconds away from bursting into tears. Kaien didn't blame him. Math had been his least favorite subject too, and in his opinion it was an abomination. They still needed to learn it though, and the only way he'd been able to convince them to do it without giving Koganehiko too much trouble had been the leak of information that math was necessary for firework crafting. That little tidbit had gotten them to work, and Kukaku had especially taken to it. Kaien had always known that Kukaku absolutely adored fireworks, and he knew that as soon as she was old enough she'd jump right into learning the family craft.

She was currently busy staring at her work trying to understand the concept of division. He cocked an eyebrow when she stopped, and then he almost laughed when she reached over and struck Ganju upside the head.

"Shut up Ganju, I'm trying to focus," she practically growled, scowling over at him in a way that kind of reminded Kaien of Ichigo.

Ganju cowered a bit, but for his part did stop his whining, and he too turned back to listening to Koganehiko explain addition to him. Kukaku once more tuned them both out, and looked down at her work again.

Kaien smiled. He absolutely loved these two. He really did. He was so damn proud to be their older brother.

He just wished he could protect them like an older brother should.

He shook his head at that, banishing the negative thoughts and reminding himself that he'd be getting training. It wouldn't remain that way for long.

He looked back at the kids and idly wondered when Ichigo would be getting back. Ichigo had said he'd be back this evening, but they hadn't seen him yet even though it was already dark outside.

The kids had really taken to Ichigo he noted. After he'd left last night it had been nothing but Ichi-ji this and Ichi-ji that all day since the two had woken up. That was cool of course, he was glad that the kids liked him. However, for them to like him enough to label him an uncle made him curious as to what event had caused that. Or at least which specific event was the cause.

Sure, they hadn't known the guy for very long, but he had essentially saved their lives in a fairly badass fashion. Swooping down in the dead of night to slay a beast is pretty cool, and while they might have been able to get away by running or something, there was still the chance of them getting seriously hurt. Not only had he done that, but he had promised to train Kaien. Both of his little siblings knew how much that meant to Kaien, and for Ichigo to agree to help probably meant a lot to them too.

What really bothered Kaien though, and what was probably the strangest reason for the kids to like him was the guy looked just like him, a little older but still damn near identical. It was a little…unsettling. How does something like that happen? He didn't think they were related. The Shiba clan was known for many things like being rowdy partiers, not having any elders leading the clan, and firework crafting. However, another was them having darker colors in their hair, like black or dark brown.

Ichigo's hair was bright _orange_.

That didn't fit.

There were a lot of Shibas out there though. They were a big clan, not as big as some of the other noble clans that had the tradition of having arranged marriages of course, but they still had hundreds of family members spread all over. It wasn't that far of a stretch to think the guy belonged to a branch family or something.

Ichigo said he didn't have a last name though.

Not having a last name wasn't that big of a deal out here in the rukongai of course. New souls out in the outer districts normally chose their own names, or took the names of the people they killed, or on the flip side were given names by the people they killed. So having just a first name with no last name wasn't that big of a thing.

However…when he'd first asked for his last name out there in those woods the guy had started to say something only to falter. Did he have a last name, and then decide not to tell them? Did he think we'd recognize it?

Kaien shook his head. Ichigo was a mystery. He was an enigma that Kaien just couldn't figure out.

"Nii-san, can you help me with this?"

Kaien glanced over at Kukaku, and approached.

"I need help with this Kaien-nii. I don't know how to do it."

Kaien looked down at the division problem, and helped Kukaku through it step by step, careful to make sure she came to her own answers instead of Kaien giving them. Kukaku never wanted to have the answer given to her of course, Ganju always tried to weasel it out of Kaien, but Kukaku really wanted to learn this. Kaien was proud of her for that.

After they'd finished her problems Kukaku leaned back and glanced up at her big brother.

"Nii-san, when is Ichi-ji gonna get back, you told us he'd be back today right?"

Kaien placed his hand on her little shoulder and replied.

"I'm not sure Kukaku, but he said he'd be back tonight, or at least sometime this evening, so maybe he's just running a little late."

Ganju piped up then from across the table, Koganehiko waiting patiently by his side, "Where did he go Kaien-nii?"

"Not sure about that either Ganju, he said something about taking care of an errand though."

Kukaku looked down at her finished work again after that, thinking about something. Quietly, her question drifted up into Kaien's hearing.

"Do you think he's okay?"

Kaien considered it for a moment. Ichigo had been gone for a while, longer than Kaien had expected, but honestly? There was no way the guy was in trouble, especially any trouble that he couldn't handle. He plastered on a reassuring smile, and replied to the downcast Kukaku.

"He's fine guys, come on. You've seen the guy. I doubt there's anything that could give him trouble."

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><p>"There he is!"<p>

"Get him!"

Ichigo cursed again and shunpoed at full tilt into a wall. He slammed his shoulder with all his might into the wooden obstruction and blasted straight through it, flinging debris this way and that, and found himself once more in an alley between several more buildings. He'd been doing this for the past twenty minutes or so. He'd tried to reach the gate he'd first entered only to find it closed again.

Of course, the idea that the gate might be closed when he returned hadn't originally crossed his mind, and now that the formerly bound instructor had been discovered and supplied his general appearance alarms were blaring and shinigami had started searching for the intruder. He had waited impatiently for the gate to open for some other reason like a cart or something, but it hadn't opened soon enough, and several shinigami had spotted him on a roof and given chase.

Now he was in a race to try and reach one of the other gates before the news traveled to them to lock down the exits. He hoped that he'd reach there in time, which wasn't likely with the number of jigokuchos he'd seen flying around, or else he'd have to blast through a gate or more likely open a garganta right here in the middle of the Seireitei. With his luck the other gate keepers had probably already received orders to lock down the gates, and with the Shakonmaku barrier around the Seireitei he couldn't exactly get out any other way.

He really didn't want to have to open a garganta here, firstly it would be difficult to pull off with the Shakonmaku causing interference, and secondly opening one right in the middle of the Seireitei was kind of counterproductive when he wanted to keep a low profile. Doing that would really give the Gotei 13 a reason to mobilize. It would cause a widespread panic.

As it stood though, he was really beginning to think that a garganta would be the only way for him to escape. While opening one would undoubtedly cause a huge disturbance, being arrested would be even worse for him. He really didn't want to have to fight a bunch of people right now in his attempt to escape said arrest.

He launched into shunpo again, using a complex series of steps to carry himself up and over the buildings around him. He left behind the sounds of the unseated officers coughing up a storm in the dust from his explosive exit, and he again reached down to make sure the asauchi was still secured within his cloak, tucked right next to his two blades that were also hidden within. After the trouble it took to get it he really didn't want to lose it now. He flew by several buildings trying to reach the eastern gate to gauge whether he could escape through there.

His senses flared a warning, and he ducked in time to evade a byakurai blasted at his head from one of the buildings he had just passed.

Damn. He needed to hurry, these shinigami were catching up. He was surprised about that too. When he had first invaded all those years ago the shinigami he'd been running from hadn't been nearly this competent. Of course, according to Urahara, after the attempted execution and then exile of so many of the Captains and lieutenants, the Gotei 13 had taken several steps back in terms of strength and training. Not to mention Aizen had been messing with the Gotei 13 the entire time after he slaughtered that particular incarnation of Central 46. Giving out misdirection and confusing the lot of the shinigami all in a rush to execute Rukia.

Maybe that's what happens when you try to execute half of your strongest officers, and replace them with a bunch of incompetent not-yet-ready weaklings all on the word of some overly charismatic fukutaichou. Yama-jii had always been able to scrounge up captains from the strangest of places though. Like that Amagai guy that had been made the new captain of the 3rd division. _That_ had been a mistake.

Now though, these guys on his tail were seriously giving him trouble trying to stay ahead. If it was just one or a few of them, he'd have left them in the dust with his speed alone, but now they were organized, circling around him, trying to head him off when he'd change direction, or coming at him from all directions at once. If they had been this good when he'd first shown up in his own timeline he wouldn't have made it ten feet. He was thankful that Aizen wasn't around yet, or else his plans would really be screwed.

He shunpoed on, and ahead of him he could see the gate…and sure enough it was closed. Not only that, but several dozen shinigami had been stationed there guarding it along with the gatekeeper. All of them with their hands on their zanpakuto no doubt just waiting for him to show up.

Was that a Captain's haori on one of them?

Ichigo squinted…yep it was. Okay, this definitely wasn't the way to go then.

He shunpoed back the way he came, dropping down to street level to slip back into another alley.

He needed to think. From what he could see all of the exits were more than likely locked down tight, and while he was unsure if he could, he might have enough strength to punch through the barrier around the city created by the walls. It would probably hurt a bit, and be pretty difficult, but transcendence did have its perks. Although he didn't want to have to go that far.

He sighed, it looked like a garganta was his only feasible option. He'd open one to Hueco Mundo to lose the twelfth division's tracking, and then open another somewhere out in the Rukongai far away from Kaien and the others. Opening a garganta would be…alarming for the Gotei 13 of course. It would basically scream that a hollow was amongst them _within_ the Seireitei, which would really get them going. It didn't look like he had any other options though.

He stepped out into the wider street, dust kicking up around him in the wind, and reached up to open a garganta right then and there, but before he could his instincts screamed at him again.

He exploded into another shunpo to narrowly escape the blow that came from nowhere. He felt the wind of it when the open palm passed within a hair's breadth of his neck. He stopped several dozen feet away, dust and dirt kicked up and flying everywhere, and turned to be met with the sight of his assailant in another sleeveless white captain's haori.

That was close. He was surprised the guy had managed to sneak up on him.

From the looks of his assailant the taichou was as surprised as Ichigo was but for a different reason. He was probably surprised that Ichigo had managed to get away.

The stunned expression on the captain vanished in the next instant, and Ichigo was greeted with a fairly familiar sight. He didn't know this taichou, but from the looks of him he was definitely a Shihouin. No doubt the captain of the 2nd division then. He was shorter than Ichigo (although that wasn't uncommon, Ichigo was pretty damn tall), and wore a similar outfit to Sui-feng except more masculine with less exposure. His most outstanding features of course were the dark skin and the accompanying golden cat-like eyes that were common on most all of the pure Shihouin clan members. The guy was handsome too, and the only major difference between this man and Yoruichi was the hair color, with this man's being pitch black and tied back into a ponytail instead of wild and purple, other than that however the two were very similar in their features.

Although, this guy probably wouldn't start teasing Ichigo if this first meeting kept going the way it appeared to be. A stray though hit him, and Ichigo idly wondered if perhaps this was Yoruichi's father.

The man retracted his outstretched arm and recovered with ease. Not moving to attack again, but obviously poised to do just that if his posture was anything to go by.

"Surrender yourself this instant. You are under arrest ryoka for trespassing within the Seireitei and the assault of a shinigami. If you do not surrender voluntarily I will force you to."

Ichigo scoffed quietly, but readied himself regardless while replying somewhat candidly, "Well, it's nice to meet you too Shihouin."

He wouldn't underestimate this guy, if he was related to Yoruichi then he was probably very fast, and to be a captain at all warranted Ichigo's caution. He was certain he could win in a fight between them, but he didn't want to bring the entire Gotei 13 down on his head in the process.

Ichigo gave off the impression that he was talking about the weather, and for all intents and purposes his posture gave the same impression. Ichigo was ready though, he'd gotten good at being ready to jump into battle without a moment's notice.

The captain grinned in response and asked, "I see you know of me, well is that a no to surrendering then?" He slid his foot back in preparation, his haori swaying in the wind.

"Pfft, do you really think I'm going to say yes?"

The captain allowed himself a small smile at that too.

The taichou lunged into action, fists closed prepared to engage him in hakuda.

Ichigo almost laughed. Why was it that practically all of his opponents underestimated him like crazy every time he met them for the first time? All of the Espada had, including all of their hogyoku empowered replacements over the years, and so had Aizen. The shunpo the captain just used was fast relatively speaking, but slow to Ichigo, and a little slower than the speed he'd used to get the drop on Ichigo in the first place. This taichou in particular could definitely go faster.

The guy obviously didn't have a clue who he was dealing with.

Ichigo completely disappeared from sight, only to reappear right where the captain himself had been standing milliseconds prior.

The startled captain spun on his feet across from Ichigo, his hands dropping to his zanpakuto along his lower back but not drawing it.

"Really taichou?"

Ichigo held up the string that he just recently acquired for the captain to see. The taichou's eyes lit up in recognition, and his hand darted up to his hair.

His ponytail had come undone.

The captain's eyes narrowed. Ichigo let himself smile a little from under his hood, he wouldn't be underestimated here anymore it seemed.

They both took off again, and Ichigo stopped smiling a little, instead letting a full blown grin grow in its place. No blades to get in the way? This would be fun, plus it wouldn't result in them sending out reiatsu flares to give away the position of their fight. No interruptions then either.

They met in an explosion of kicks and punches. Trading blow after blow, blocking and ducking in between. Neither really able to land anything successful against the other. The taichou obviously sped up dramatically, somewhat comparable to Yoruichi fast, and definitely faster than other taichou of this level, and while it was enough to keep Ichigo on his toes it still wasn't enough to catch Ichigo off guard. Ichigo could honestly go faster if he wanted, and he hadn't even released his blades. Training under Yoruichi, or fighting toe to toe against people like Aizen, or Ulquiorra, and Grimmjow gave him a bit of a jaded view on true speed.

They both started disappearing then between blows, vanishing for seconds at a time with their speed only to meet again each time with a crash. The 2nd division was known for its speed and hakuda specialty, and this captain was no doubt a master at hand to hand combat. He was admittedly very good, probably one of the best around if not the best within the Gotei 13 right now since he was a Shihouin.

It was a shame his opponent was a war torn Ichigo then, and it showed how outclassed he was with how Ichigo always seemed to be one step ahead of him.

Ichigo had been trained by the best, and had grown up supporting himself with his two fists, not to mention the war itself transforming Ichigo into a veritable force of nature in pretty much any combat form. Ichigo knew how to fight dirty too, fighting gangs growing up required it, and while the captain no doubt knew how to fight dirty as well that wasn't what mattered. When it came to fighting dirty, anyone can really do it, but it wasn't a matter of knowledge, it was a matter of who used that knowledge first.

So. Ichigo started fighting dirty first.

Ichigo dodged to the left to avoid an open palmed strike to his chest, letting it pass bare millimeters from him. Ichigo recovered instantly, flowing like water to snap back into place, and snaked his arms forward like striking serpents to slam both of his cupped palms over the captain's ears. The taichou recoiled violently to having his eardrums slammed, and Ichigo capitalized on it. He drew his foot back, and brought it down viscously into the fleshy inner side of his opponent's kneecap.

The resulting snap as it broke, making it jut out at an unnatural angle, was painful to hear.

The captain cried out, and without support sank and started to fall down onto that knee. Ichigo interrupted his fall, he gripped him by one of his shoulders swinging him around and kneeing him straight in the chest, blasting the air from the captain's lungs. Ichigo felt several of the guy's ribs quiver and collapse under the force of his strike.

Ichigo didn't stop there though, and as the taichou rebounded off of his knee he attacked again. With a blur of movement Ichigo grabbed the poor bastard's head too, and yanked it down hard. It came careening down for a swift introduction with Ichigo's own kneecap. The second snap from Ichigo shattering the poor guy's nose was equally cringe worthy.

The captain flew back through the air arms flailing, and collapsed on his back in the dust. His coughs reached Ichigo after a few moments of him clawing desperately for air, and Ichigo could see the blood already pooling down his front from his shattered nose.

He showed no sign of being able to rise on his own.

After about a minute though the captain's breathing slowed down to pained wheezing, and he sat up supporting himself with his elbows just in time to witness Ichigo tearing open a garganta several meters away after some difficulty.

Ichigo turned back to give the guy one more once over before he left. Ichigo felt kind of bad, he looked like he'd just been hit by a truck.

"_**Haha! We sure whooped his ass!"**_ Shiro cackled in his mind.

'You didn't even do anything,' Ichigo reminded the hollow, and tuned out the indignant reply of

"_**You're damn right! Why the hell won't you use me next time, or even one little bala to spice things up?!"**_

Instead Ichigo turned fully toward the still floored captain.

"You alright?"

The captain laughed lightly at that, but the sound was pained, and the guy wrapped an arm around his ribs in response.

"I'll admit, I wasn't expecting that. You roughed me up pretty good, but I've had worse."

Ichigo bit back a chuckle, glad that the guy wasn't the type to be overly upset over pretty much getting his ass beat. Although, he probably shouldn't be that surprised. The guy was a Shihouin, and even if they were a noble family, most of the ones he'd met, Yoruichi obviously included, had been pretty easygoing. Unlike some people he had met, the name Kuchiki flitted through his thoughts absently.

The captain peered over through the dust and saw the garganta floating in the air behind Ichigo, the roiling black oblivion giving off its own distinct feeling of dread. The Shihouin's cat-like eyes lit up in recognition of what was 'almost' exclusively a hollow technique, the one which hollows were known to use to travel to and from Hueco Mundo, before swinging the same confused set onto Ichigo.

"You're a shinigami that much I can tell. You have strong reiatsu, which is very well controlled, but I can still sense it, (Ichigo wasn't surprised, the guy was a captain, and the captain of the _2__nd __division_) not to mention you use shunpo. You must have a zanpakuto, and when I struck you before I felt it within your robes…so then how?...How are you able to create a garganta like a hollow?"

The captain paused, and looked at the garganta again. He scrutinized it for a moment, and then his eyes widened.

"I can sense your reiatsu off of that, and it's the same as…"

Ichigo sighed. Why did his opponent have to be the taichou of the 2nd division? The guys who practically specialized in reiatsu sensing and tracking so that they could pull off assassinations.

Ichigo didn't let the guy finish his sentence, "Listen, do you really think I'm going to tell you anything?" The Shihouin's mouth snapped shut at that, "Everything that just happened is going to be spread like wildfire, and honestly I doubt you lot aren't going to go on a witch hunt for my head," he paused again in consideration, "Okay, I don't think any of you, and especially not the Soutaichou, will believe me when I say this, but relax please. I don't mean any of you any harm. I only knocked out that instructor because he caught me by surprise, and you were the one who attacked me. I only came in here to run an errand."

Ichigo threw his head back, drew in a breath, and released it in a huge sigh that was heavy with exasperation. He knew his words were wasted right now. They'd hunt him to the ends of the earth, and all across any dimension of the afterlife if that's what it took. That's how the Gotei 13 and central 46 worked. If there was something they didn't understand or couldn't control running around out there, hunt it down and kill it with fire. They wouldn't find him of course, but they'd still search.

Why couldn't anything go his way for once?

The captain was openly staring at Ichigo now, a gob smacked expression painted across his still bleeding face.

"Whatever Shihouin, get yourself to the 4th and see Unohana-san. I'm out of here."

With that, Ichigo left the dumbfounded captain behind, and hopped into the garganta. It closed behind him with a snap.

* * *

><p>Satoru Shihouin sat there in the dirt for several minutes longer after that, staring at the spot in the air that the mysterious man had just vanished. Part of him, or well most of him, was still trying to wrap his mind around what had just happened.<p>

He had initially thought that this break in might have had something to do with the event from several days ago, but probably not since there weren't any huge explosions shaking the very foundations of the Seireitei to be felt. When they had learned that it had just been some guy in black (he'd shaken his head at that, _they all wore black_) that had snuck in, and had knocked out one of the teachers at the academy the severity of the situation had toned down a little in his mind. They still had wanted to track him down and arrest him of course, so when the ryoka had continued to evade the groups sent out after him, sowing chaos in his wake, he had gone out to put a stop to it personally.

However, for Satoru to actually run into the guy that had caused the disturbance from before was…sort of unexpected. Not to mention eye opening.

He'd just had his ass kicked. He hadn't really been able to even land a blow on the guy, only glancing blows at best, and it hadn't been for lack of trying. Sure he'd taken it easy at the beginning, but as he began to notice that his efforts proved increasingly futile he really took it up a notch. He might have had to unseal his zanpakuto if the fight continued much longer or if the guy hadn't knocked him flat.

That honestly hadn't happened in…a while. A long while actually, decades in fact. The last time he'd had his ass handed to him had been when he'd sparred with Kyoraku-taichou forty some odd years ago when he'd first become a captain.

On top of all that, besides being extraordinarily skilled in hakuda the guy had been _faster than him_. He was arguably the fastest captain out there right now, and it wasn't surprising considering his family history. For this unknown to show up out of thin air, and be faster than a Shihouin was saying something. It was absurd.

He wasn't upset really, he wasn't an overly proud man even as the Shihouin clan head, so when he lost a fight he recognized it and moved right along. The shinigami or whatever he was hadn't even really done anything that terrible anyway. He hadn't killed anyone, he'd knocked out a teacher. Whoa. Big deal. He remembered that teacher too, the guy was an asshole even before he became a department head so he didn't begrudge the unknown for knocking him out. On top of all of this, after he'd been floored his opponent hadn't even gone in for a killing blow, even if it wouldn't have worked. He was a captain after all, just being knocked down wouldn't stop him.

Even so, his opponent had let him recover instead, even inquiring if he was alright. He obviously wasn't alright, and in the end told him to go to the 4th division to get fixed up, telling him to inform the others that he didn't mean any harm and to essentially leave him alone before making his exit.

His departure too…he had opened a garganta _inside the Seireitei_.

That wasn't supposed to happen.

The Shakonmaku was supposed to keep portals of that kind except for the Senkaimon from being able to be opened or closed within the dome. Usually only very powerful hollows like several Vasto-Lorde working together were hypothesized to be able to do that. Although, it wasn't like they could exactly test that out. The Vasto-Lorde probably wouldn't work together for anything, even to save their lives, and none of the captains actually knew how to open a garganta for obvious reasons. Maybe with enough strength behind it you could create one, but that was all guess work.

This guy had done it though. Weird. Amazing, but weird.

"You look like hell Satoru."

Satoru dropped his thoughts to look back, and despite the pain he was in managed to twist around a little at the middle to smile over at the approaching captain of the 10th division, Tindra Matsushita.

"Thank you Tindra, and you look just as beautiful as always."

Tindra walked over and came to a stop a few feet away, her long purple hair drifting lightly in the breeze along with her captain's haori.

She scoffed down at him, "Nice try Shihouin, but maybe try complimenting a woman when you're not bleeding all over the place. It's not very attractive."

She was indeed beautiful though, a unique mix of graceful lethality and fiery allure that probably got her loads of unwanted attention on her rise to captaincy. When it came to female shinigami though, Satoru had learned that those were the ones you really needed to watch out for. Just look at Unohana-taichou for example, that woman was scary as hell. Satoru doubted even the captain-commander dare disobey her commands whenever he was in her care. It was hard work getting others to respect you in the life of warriors like them, and doubly so if you were a woman. That meant that if a woman was a captain, you could be damned sure that she had a _very_ good reason for being there, and that you really shouldn't get on their bad side.

Over the years Satoru had come to see just how dangerous Tindra really was.

He'd been a captain a little bit longer than her, about a decade, and he knew just how powerful Tindra Matsushita had proven herself to be. It was probably that danger that drew him to her in the first place. She was unique too. Aside from so many things, how many women did you come across with natural purple hair? She had said something about it running in the family, kind of like his family's penchant for golden cat like eyes and dark skin. She was…interesting. Not to mention _very_ attractive otherwise.

"Well let me get cleaned up first, and then maybe I can tell you again just how beautiful you are _Matsushita-taichou~~." _

Tindra blushed despite herself, the rising red complimenting her blue eyes nicely, and Satoru smiled taking that as a good sign. Whenever he'd seen other men compliment her, she'd always just shrug it off or glare at them.

"Shut up Shihouin."

Okay. Maybe it wasn't as good as he thought.

She reached down to him and Satoru cocked an eyebrow at her movement, only to cry out in affront when she scooped him up and started carrying him bridal style.

"The hell Tindra! Put me down! I'm a captain! What if someone sees me?!"

"Stop yelling, and what are you talking about Satoru? You need to get to the 4th. I saw your knee, you can't walk right now, so stop your whining and be grateful." She said it with a growing grin, and Satoru knew she was taking the chance to make fun of him.

Satoru flailed his arms in response, "Come on Tindra, really? Just…give me a little support! It's not as bad as it looks."

Tindra kept walking, Satoru held in her arms regardless of his complaints, and looked down at his knee. The swelling was ugly and massive, the misplaced bones apparent for all to see, and she looked back at the idiot in her arms with an incredulous look.

Satoru had the decency to look sheepish, but then recovered.

"Alright fine, so it's broken, whatever."

Tindra grinned at his admission, but then cocked an eyebrow and frowned when Satoru suddenly pulled himself closer.

"Oh~~I get it. You're carrying me because you want to get closer to me, is that it? Well then Matsushita-taichou…feel free to get as close as you want. I don't mind one bit."

Tindra immediately spluttered and strung together loose words of denial, whilst instantly dropping Satoru right on his ass.

"I said shut up Shihouin!"

Satoru cried out at being dropped to the floor, jolting his knee painfully in the process, but quickly began laughing at the red-faced embarrassment on the woman's face.

She made to storm off, but Satoru sat up quickly and grabbed her hand before she could.

"Oh you know I'm just giving you a hard time Tindra, come on, help me up please. My leg really is killing me."

Tindra calmed down after a few seconds of giving Satoru the stink eye before huffing and helping him up, slinging his arm over her shoulder to help him walk.

"What happened to you anyway? I was over at the eastern gate in case who ever got in tried to leave that way. I saw someone, but then they turned around when they got close, coming back this way. I had waited, but after a little bit decided to go after them, only to find you in the middle of the road…looking like this," she waved a hand in his direction in an encompassing manner, "What did you do? Shunpo into a building or something?"

Satoru almost laughed, "Nope, come on really? You think I'd shunpo into a building?"

"You're an idiot. Anything is possible."

Satoru scowled lightly for a second, but then smiled at her.

"No, I didn't shunpo into a building," Satoru paused for a second and then continued quietly, "The ryoka was actually the one who did this to me."

Tindra stopped walking then, and looked at him with a dumbfounded expression.

"What?! Seriously? Did he beat you?!"

Satoru nodded in the affirmative, and continued.

"Yeah, we didn't draw swords, but he defeated me with hakuda, which as you know is my strong point. I didn't even leave a mark on him. He was faster than me too, which is why he beat me so badly…and, as it turns out, he was the guy that had caused the reiatsu disturbance from a few days ago."

Tindra was now completely stunned, and her mouth was opening and closing like a fish out of water. She didn't say anything for a few moments, but then snapped her mouth shut, and they kept walking. She glanced around suspiciously, and then asked, "Is he still around Satoru? Where did he take off to? I'm assuming he left for another one of the gates."

Satoru shook his head, "No, he's gone. He opened a garganta in the street after he defeated me, and left through it."

Tindra looked over at him with a perplexed expression, "A garganta? Are you sure you didn't hit your head too hard Satoru? How is that even possible?"

Satoru laughed lightly, and then grimaced, shifting uncomfortably to move so that his broken ribs weren't in such a painful position.

"Yeah, I was confused too. Remember though, the Soutaichou told us that the reiatsu from before had been somewhat hollow in nature even if it had been prominently shinigami, and this guy was definitely the guy that caused that. I couldn't really tell at first with how much he was suppressing it, but he opened a garganta right in front of me, and I could sense it then. Plus, he was strong, he defeated me, a captain, so maybe opening a garganta wasn't that hard for him even with the barrier."

Tindra nodded in understanding as they walked, and then asked another question, "So do you think he went to Hueco Mundo then?"

"Maybe…he said he was only here to run an errand. He'd even said that he didn't mean us any harm, and that we should relax. Won't happen of course, we're going to have to go after him regardless if only to appease Central 46, but I kind of feel like he's not lying. Sure we fought, but afterward he didn't move to kill me. He even asked me if I was alright, and recommended I go to the 4th before leaving."

That surprised Tindra just as well, "Wow…a powerful shinigami ryoka, capable of defeating a captain, and that could open a garganta right in the middle of the Seireitei…" she shook her head lightly at that, "Hard to believe if you ask me…"

"He's not lying," a new voice cut in as a more serious than usual Kyoraku Shunsui shunpoed to a stop before them, "We just received news from the 12th that a garganta had opened around here just a few minutes ago."

Kyoraku tilted his sakkat back with two fingers, and eyed them speculatively for a few moments, taking in Satoru's condition, before asking, "What's going on around here you two? Where did the ryoka go, and what the hell happened to you Satoru?"

Tindra laughed openly at Satoru's plight, and Satoru shook his head in turn.

"It's a bit of a story, and I'm probably going to have to tell it to a lot of people. The ryoka is gone, so if you don't mind, I'd like to explain it to everyone at once…"

* * *

><p>"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" Ichigo yelled into the roiling black void surrounding him, as he ran along the reiatsu pathway under his feet, slowly approaching what he felt was his destination.<p>

This was exactly what he _hadn't_ wanted to have happen! The Gotei 13 was definitely going to be gunning for him now! He had wanted to get in and out undetected, but that damn teacher just had to discover him! Now, he had successfully beaten up one of their captains in broad daylight, set off all of their alarms, _and_ opened a garganta right in the middle of the Seireitei.

He was just thankful that he'd had his hood up the whole time, and his zanpakuto hidden away within his robes, which was his only saving grace. Sure, he'd made one hell of a mess, but what would they do?

'Oh yeah we're uhhh looking for a guy in black with a hood, everybody keep your eyes peeled for the bastard. We'll catch him for sure.'

Ichigo scoffed. Totally. He was also thankful that neither Kisuke nor Kurotsuchi had taken office yet, he might actually have trouble getting away with it then. Those crazy scientists always had a penchant for whipping up strange inventions for any of their needs at practically a moment's notice.

What's done is done though, and he reached down to check if the asauchi was still there, which he was relieved to see that it was. It would suck to have lost that in the end. Now he could get down to training his new student.

Up ahead the darkness started thinning, and he sensed that his destination was approaching fast. He reached up as he ran, ripping through the fabric of the dimension with a sweep of his hand, and jumped out to land softly on the nighttime desert sands of Hueco Mundo.

He drew in a deep quaking breath and released it slowly, soaking in the reiatsu dense environment, trying and failing to suppress the involuntary shudder.

He opened his eyes, and felt a strange sense of happiness come over him. He had never known the real reason why, but something about the desolate, dead sands, the stretching, perpetual, starry, night sky, the pale moon in the distance, and the soft desert wind that nipped at his heels just made him feel so at home. It more than likely had to do with his inner hollow nature, but he'd never bothered to ask.

The hollow dimension just felt…right.

Suddenly a thought occurred to him, he knew that Hueco Mundo was always night, and only Los Noches with its artificial sun had really been a place where you could tell time, but back in the Soul Society it had been sometime in midafternoon. He'd told Kaien that he'd be back sometime this evening, so it looked like he had some time to kill.

Shiro had been complaining about not being able to do much recently, and it was true. He usually only used his shorter wakizashi because he didn't really need to use both at once in most situations, and he obviously couldn't pull on his mask for _any_ reason right now. It probably wouldn't be until he started training the Visored that he'd really be able to use his mask for anything.

So, he'd surprise him. Give him a chance to stretch his legs as it were.

'Hey Shiro,' Ichigo called within, waiting expectantly for his inner hollow to reply.

"_**What?"**_ his white copy answered back after a few seconds, dragging his attention away from…whatever he did with his time within Ichigo's inner world.

'Want to come out for a bit? I'll let you take over for a few hours out here in Hueco Mundo. Let loose for a while, you know?'

Shiro's full attention was grabbed immediately.

"_**Really aibou?! You bet your ass I do! Scoot over, let me jump in the driver's seat!"**_

Shiro instantly started chomping at the bit trying to get past Ichigo to take over his body, but Ichigo pushed him back with practiced ease, and interrupted him.

'Alright alright Shiro, I will, but remember we need to get back tonight before it gets too late. So only for a few hours, and also make sure and not kill anyone important, or lose the asauchi out here.'

"_**Kill anyone important? What do you mean?"**_

'You know, if you stumble across any reiatsu you recognize, like Nel, Tia, Grimmjow, Ulquiorra, or Starrk and their respective fraccion. Just make sure you don't vaporize them or something. You probably won't recognize their appearance since they haven't become arrancar yet, so be careful. '

Shiro laughed, _**"Haha, you got it aibou! Thanks for this!"**_

Ichigo smiled, and let himself fall back into his inner world allowing an eager Shiro to step in the spot he had just vacated.

On the outside, as the change took place their collective control snapped and their monumental reiatsu flared to life, painting the already night sky with a skyscraper of black and red reiatsu in an explosion of darkness. It roiled and burned the sand, compressing it into glass beneath their feet, and an unholy cackle was torn from Ichigo's throat to sound throughout the dead world. Suddenly, a white ectoplasm like substance exploded from Ichigo's mouth, crawling across his still laughing face to wrap around his face, and form the horrifying visage of the narrow bull-horned demonic skull grinning for all the world to see. It was complete with twin streaks of black down the face, and Ichigo's hair exploded in length, an orange mane extending out and reaching down to his waist in a fiery sea or orange. His sclera blackened and his irises slowly lit up with that eerie golden hue. His skin slowly bleached itself, fading from the lively pink and tan to a stark white, and in the center of his chest a hollow hole broke open, stretching out so that you could see clear through him right at the 'V' in his coat.

Shiro threw his head back and laughed again into the night sky, not even bothering to reign in their reiatsu, and after he was done he looked down at his now deadly clawed hands, flexing them experimentally. He grinned sadistically at the strength he found there.

"_**This is going to be fun!"**_

With that he took off into the desert sand with the static of sonido, sensing his first prey just over several dozen dunes. He jumped high into the air, blurring through the night, and looked down to the sight of a pathetic looking praying mantis hollow cowering close to the sand behind a dune, having no doubt sensed the Vasto-Lorde that had just made its overwhelming presence known. He charged a crimson cero between his horns laughing all the while, and released it several seconds later, reveling in the terrified cry from the weak hollow that was vaporized almost instantaneously, vanishing in the resulting cataclysmic explosion that rocked the dimension around them. The red dome of pure destruction grew in an ever expanding circle, blasting away anything in its path, and it slowly faded revealing an even more battered world as Shiro sank down to the sands several dozen meters below.

He grinned sadistically, _**"Alright! Who's next…?"**_

* * *

><p>Satoru was laid out in his hospital bed, drugged to the gills, and wrapped in bandages around his diaphragm and his knee. He could hardly even sit up as it was, and his knee was throbbing down the length of his entire leg. So why did he have to put up with <em>this<em> right now? He was in pain, bedridden by that damn ryoka, and he was being interrogated by the captain commander himself.

He hadn't been upset when the fight had initially ended, but now he cursed the unnamed shinigami for putting him through this. Everything hurt, he was having trouble breathing, and he couldn't even get any sleep now.

Damn.

"What was his appearance, Shihouin-taichou? Tell me anything that you can."

He shrugged, and then flinched at the pain caused by his own movement, "I told you Soutaichou, he was dressed in black. There isn't much more I can tell you. He wore a long black cloak, like the instructor had reported, and had a hood covering his head so I couldn't tell what he looked like beyond that. I couldn't even see his zanpakuto, which he had stowed away in his robes."

The Soutaichou shifted where he sat on the opposite bed, and sighed in response to his answer.

"His skill level?"

Satoru raised an eyebrow, and gestured toward himself.

The captain commander gave him an unimpressed look.

Satoru sighed too, and elaborated at the silent prompting, "From the short encounter I had with him, he showed extreme skill. He was able to best me in a pure hakuda and shunpo match, and he possessed speed greater than my own. I didn't even get to see the full extent of his speed, and I'm certain that he could have gone faster. He was faster than anyone I've ever seen, both within my family and out of it."

Satoru paused then in consideration, before continuing, "I don't know if he has any skill with Kido or how his Zanjutsu stacks up in comparison to his hakuda and hoho, but his hollow power became apparent after the fight. It's as you said Soutaichou, he opened a garganta right in front of me, and he's definitely got something up with him allowing him to use hollow techniques. If that includes cero or other things, I don't know."

The Soutaichou nodded in response and considered the information that Satoru had supplied for him. He stood, supporting himself with his cane, and ambled over to the exit only to stop in the doorway.

"You said that the ryoka told you that he didn't mean us any harm, and that we should 'relax'?"

Satoru looked up again when he realized that the Soutaichou wasn't leaving yet, and replied in kind.

"Yes, he told me just that. He said that he didn't mean us any harm, but he also said that he didn't think any of us would believe him. Especially not you."

Yamamoto-Soutaichou scoffed from the doorway, and agreed.

"Indeed, this unknown shinigami seems to know us well. To think that I would let my guard down on his words alone would be foolish, and since he knows that I wouldn't shows that he has some intelligence," the captain commander continued his trek out of the hospital room, "I look forward to meeting him, on the field of battle or otherwise. Take some time off until you recover Shihouin-taichou, and listen to what Unohana-taichou says."

"Hai Soutaichou." (As if he had a choice in the matter.)

He sank into his bed, sagging at the shoulders as he relaxed with the interrogation finally being over. He felt his head droop a little out of exhaustion, and then jolted upright again when he brushed his still aching nose against his pillow, which in turn caused his ribs to flare up in pain again too. He bit back the yelp of pain that threatened to crawl out, and reigned himself in as he tried not to move. Nothing was broken anymore, and the majority of his injuries were healed with kido, but the more major ones like his knee, nose, and chest were still aching like crazy and hurt to touch.

He huffed quietly, "Damn that guy. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be in this position in the first place…when I see him next, he's in for it. I'll have a rematch whether he wants one or not."

He dreaded going back in for the next captain's meeting.

He'd been made to look like a fool, and even if he was a bit miffed, and did in fact want a rematch he knew that he'd been the one to attack the ryoka first, so it wasn't entirely the guy's fault that he'd ended up in this situation. The other captains would undoubtedly give him a hard time though at having lost against the ryoka, especially that oaf Kenpachi Kiganjo. He could see it now, Tindra would probably tease him for years to come, right along with Kyoraku and Jushirou, and he wouldn't be surprised if Ginrei himself decided to tug on his sleeve and subtly offer to give him pointers on fighting in the patented Kuchiki style of a jesting dig.

Oh yes, he'd have his rematch, and next time he wouldn't be caught unawares.

That was of course if he ever saw the guy again, and if Yamamoto-Soutaichou didn't get to him first. The old man had really taken a sharp interest in the hooded mystery shinigami that was running around kicking teacher and taichou ass alike.

His ears perked up as he heard the sound of approaching feet in the hallway, and his senses automatically recognized the reiatsu coming his way as Tindra's.

Huh. That's unexpected. He knew she'd come around eventually, but what could she be doing here in the middle of the work day?

Sure enough, the purple haired beauty walked through the door to his room, and smiled kindly at him as she crossed the threshold.

"Afternoon Satoru, you're looking better now after Unohana-san got her hands on you," she greeted as she settled down on the bed that the Soutaichou had just been occupying.

He grinned cheekily over at her in response, "Calling me handsome Tindra? What a surprise. Here I thought you couldn't stand the sight of me."

Tindra blushed lightly, and scoffed at him, "You're delusional Satoru, perhaps I should go and find Unohana-san then. She should probably take a look at you."

Satoru scrambled to recover, and hastily begged her not to. She laughed in his face at the response, but didn't move to do any such thing. Satoru knew she wouldn't put him through that. Well, unless he really messed up.

"So how are you feeling?" she asked him quietly after their laughs had died out.

"Meh, a little banged up, but I'll probably be able to return to work in a day or two. Nothing too bad, and you and I have both had worse in our time."

She nodded in agreement to that, but then stopped to adopt a look of consideration, as if weighing the pros and cons of what she was about to say. Satoru knew she wouldn't come here in the middle of work if she didn't have something on her mind.

Finally, she seemed to make up her mind, and asked the question that was bothering her.

"What happened to you out there yesterday? I know you Satoru. There's no way that some random shinigami came in, and just defeated you at the drop of a hat, and in hakuda at that. There's something you aren't telling me here, I don't like it, and it's been bothering me since you told me what 'happened' out there in the street. I know you're supposed to keep secrets, it's practically in your job description, but this I expected you to come clean about, or at least come clean to me about."

Satoru's cat like eyes widened at her words, and he was surprised to hear the almost _hurt_ in her voice.

Although, he probably shouldn't be that surprised, he reasoned. Sure they teased each other, him more than her, and he had been a captain for only a short time before her, but they'd known each other when they'd been climbing the ranks of their respective divisions long before either of them had even reached lieutenant. Sure, it had been in passing, and their friendship hadn't been truly cemented until they reached the upper echelon of the Gotei 13, but they'd still shared words on occasion back in their younger days as fresh shinigami. Now, they were good friends, kind of like Jushirou and Kyoraku. Not nearly as close as those two were, those two had been friends for centuries, but Satoru and Tindra were still good friends.

"I wasn't hiding anything earlier Tindra, I'm serious. The guy really did best me, and with scary ease at that-"

"Bullshit!" Tindra fumed, "You're one of the strongest shinigami I know Satoru, _especially_ in hakuda."

He quirked an eyebrow at her and she glowered at him, "That isn't a compliment. I'm just stating the facts, so don't let it affect your ego."

Satoru sighed. She was getting worked up again. She usually did when he was either teasing her, or she thought he was hiding something from her, and she really got upset when he did both at once.

She huffed at his sigh, and looked away, purple hair flouncing lightly with attitude.

Jeez this woman could be high maintenance sometimes.

"Tindra. I swear to you on my life that I am not lying. You know you can always tell when I'm really lying, and look at me now and try and tell me that I am," when she refused to turn back he beckoned again, "…come on."

She huffed again, looked back, and allowed herself to remain indignant for a few moments longer before lowering the intensity of her glare. He honestly wasn't lying about anything he'd said in regards to the ryoka, and now from the look on her face she knew he wasn't bullshitting her.

"Fine, then what happened in the fight? I want to know."

He looked down at his hands, thinking of the best way to explain the ridiculousness of the situation. He didn't blame her for not initially believing him, since it was pretty hard to believe in the first place.

"There isn't much to tell. I'd first shown up, and in the beginning the guy hadn't noticed me for obvious reasons. I'm the head of the Onmitsukido. It's normal that no one knows I'm there at all until I'm already taking their life, but instead of my blow to the neck connecting, the ryoka managed to slip out of my grasp like flowing water with shunpo. I don't know how, but he obviously sensed me coming in some way. I attempted to put him under arrest, which he casually brushed off, and then I'd moved to attack once more, maybe even incapacitate him for further questioning later on in a jail cell."

Satoru shook his head at that.

"That's when things started to go wrong for me. He'd disappeared from in front of me after I lunged, and managed to untie my hair without me even noticing."

Tindra was incredulous, her blue eyes widening again, "_That_ fast?"

Satoru nodded, "Yeah, _that_ fast. His speed was just ridiculous Tindra. I really pushed myself after that since I realized I wasn't facing just some average opponent, and while I can go faster in shikai, there wasn't a doubt in my mind that the other guy could as well. We kept trading blows in hakuda for a little bit, picking up speed gradually. I expected to pass him in speed, for obvious reasons, but no matter how fast I went he kept up and actually surpassed me instead," Tindra sat there marveling at his words as he kept going, "In the end, right as I was making up my mind on whether to draw my zanpakuto or not, he boxed my ears when I wasn't expecting it. (Tindra cringed) I was thrown off balance of course, and he capitalized on it. It was a bit of a blur, getting struck like that makes it hard to pay attention, but I think he hit me about 3 times after that. Before I knew it, I was on my back struggling to breathe."

He stopped his story and looked at her, making sure she was looking him in the eyes when he said it.

"He is very skilled Tindra, in hakuda and shunpo at the very least. If you ever encounter him, be cautious, and do not underestimate him."

Normally she would scoff at him when he gave her such warnings, but in the face of what he had told her and his serious expression she didn't. She only nodded her understanding quietly, waiting for him to continue his story.

He looked back down at his hands again, "You know the rest, I told you as much when you first found me. He opened a garganta, we shared some words and then he left. He didn't reveal why he had come to the Seireitei except for some 'errand', and wanted to put us at ease, and then you found me."

He ended his story, and they sat there quietly for a few minutes as Tindra processed it. Suddenly, something occurred to Satoru as he sat there, and it must have shown on his face because Tindra took notice, "What are you thinking Satoru?"

He faltered for a few moments, rearranging his thoughts before he tried to deflect the question, "It's nothing. I just forgot something."

"Oh no you don't, what was it?"

He looked at her and saw that indignant expression again, and he knew he wouldn't get away without telling her.

"I…uh I just realized something about the ryoka is all. Something strange that I didn't really pay attention to at first."

"What was it? Spill it Satoru."

"Well he…he seemed very…familiar with the Gotei 13 Tindra. He recognized me as a Shihouin from the start, and he commented on how he knew the Soutaichou wouldn't listen to him, aware of the old man's disposition when it came to things like this, and he knew the divisions too. Telling me to go visit the 4th, referencing Unohana-taichou by name. He just gave off the air of…knowing us. I don't know how, but he is very aware of the inner workings of the Gotei 13, and yet I did not recognize his reiatsu. For someone of his strength to have been around enough to be familiar with us, then you and I should have been aware of him, but he has literally come out of nowhere. That is alarming to me since I am the head of the Onmitsukido. I should have known of him before now through my networks at the very least."

Tindra considered his words, and then tried to set him at ease.

"I agree, that is weird Satoru, but don't think on it too hard. I mean, the captain commander himself didn't even know of this shinigami, so it's not a huge thing if you didn't know of him either."

She stood and made to leave, brushing past the end of Satoru's bed, and approaching the exit.

"Get better soon Satoru, your division needs you, and you can't afford to laze around all day."

Right as she was about to leave Satoru perked up and then an idea hit him, "Ne, Tindra?"

She paused in the doorway and looked back, and all of a sudden Satoru was nervous.

Nervous? A Shihouin? His parents would be so ashamed.

He mustered up his courage, but even with it his voice still came out sounding unsure of itself.

Maybe that's why Tindra actually listened this time instead of brushing him off as usual.

"When I get out of here within the next day or so, maybe you and I can go out…and um you know. Get some dinner perhaps?"

Tindra froze where she stood, and for a moment Satoru thought he might have made a mistake, but then he saw the red slowly climb from her neck up to the crown of her head as she blushed magnificently at his question. Slowly, she responded in kind.

"I um…I'd like that Satoru."

Then she was gone in a rush of shunpo, desperate to escape the awkward atmosphere. Satoru sank into his sheets again after she was gone, smiling through the pain almost gleefully at having managed to ask Tindra out on a date for once. If she was aware he thought of it like a date, well that remained to be seen. He'd have to clarify that the next time he saw her.

It was quiet for a few more minutes, and Satoru once again tried to doze off, and just like all the times before was interrupted. Only this time, it was by something much worse than pain, or even the Captain-commander.

"Shihouin-taichou, I believe I heard something about you thinking you can leave my division, and return to work without reference of being medically cleared by me," a kind voice spoke from a shadow by the doorway.

Satoru sat bolt upright, desperately ignoring his pain, and was greeted by the sight of a gently smiling Unohana Retsu, a shadowed cast falling over her eyes.

Out in the 4th division hallways, seated and unseated healers scurried back and forth, all of them ignoring the cries of terror emerging from the medical recovery wing.


	5. A Strong Blade

**Disclaimer - I do not own anything from Bleach**

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><p>Warnings: AU, Time Travel, Ichigo-centric, violence, language<p>

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><p><strong>Author's note: Hey Everyone, here is chapter 5. Hope you enjoy this, Kaien is in for it. Please leave a review if you feel up for it. <strong>

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><p>Chapter 5: A Strong Blade<p>

Shiro was perched atop a jutting edge of a mountain peak, squatting to survey the vast expanse of the desert that stretched on for miles below him. Up high as he was the wind was harsh, kicking up his long black coat and flowing waist length hair, and the biting cold of the freezing night managed to seep in through his modified shihakusho to chill his bones and numb his clawed hands.

Shiro didn't care of course, he didn't even notice the cold. This was the world he was meant for, and if Ichigo felt at home here, then Shiro felt like he was in paradise.

He grinned sadistically under his horned mask. He sure had cleaned house in the past few hours. The shinigami owed him big time, since he was practically doing their jobs for them. As a hollow, but also a zanpakuto spirit, any time he killed a hollow with a cero or another of his techniques or even just with his clawed hands it had the unique ability to cleanse the victim similar to a zanpakuto. Kind of like kido when he thought about it. Since he'd already killed near fifty or so lesser hollows and adjuchas, and all of those hollows had probably eaten hundreds of other hollows and souls in their lifetimes, than soul society had undoubtedly just rose several thousand souls in population.

'_**Not bad for only a few hours, eh aibou?'**_

Ichigo didn't answer as he was probably off in the rain conversing with the old man, but Shiro didn't really care. He was having too much fun with this, and he still had plenty of time to kill, both figuratively and literally.

After a little while of him massacring hollows he'd had to reign in his reiatsu to his own dissatisfaction. He liked letting it free and allowing it to destroy the area around him, reveling in the unadulterated annihilation he was causing just with his presence, but the other hollows had noticed his presence, and the vast majority of his prey had all run for the hills. It wasn't until he had pulled it back in and concealed it that the weaker hollows started crawling out of their hiding places, believing that the Vasto-Lorde had retired to the mountains again.

Shiro's golden glowing eyes picked up movement several hundred meters below him in the sand, and he launched into action with a mumble of static, disappearing into sonido down toward his prey. The wind whipped in his face, and right as he was about to unleash a bala toward his new victim his senses picked up a familiar reiatsu from the unaware hollow. Ichigo also took notice from within their inner-world.

Shiro's grin grew almost psychotic as he approached. This would be fun.

'I swear to God Shiro, if you kill him, then I'm going to beat your ass and never let you out again.'

'_**Don't worry aibou, I just want to have a little fun.'**_

It was true though. He wouldn't kill this hollow. Maybe just mess with him a little bit. Grimmjow had always been fun to rile up in the past, and killing him now would ruin all the fun they'd be able to have once he became an Espada. He'd probably just terrorize him for now.

The white bone clad panther stalked across the sands, and was completely unaware of the shit storm that was about to be unleashed upon him. He was off on his own mission, hunting the lesser hollows in his quest to rise to the far off level of the all-powerful Vasto-Lorde. He was trying his best to rise to the top, and join the ranks of the reclusive and mysterious group of deadly hollows that had reached the highest plane of evolution for their kind. He would be King, and no one would stop him.

Right as Shiro came within a dozen or so meters of the panther, Grimmjow froze and spun in place, his instincts warning him of the imminent danger, and finally aware of the demon about to set itself upon him.

However, it was too late for Grimmjow.

Within the blink of an eye the Vasto-Lorde was there before the panther. Shiro's clawed hand darted forward and roughly grabbed Grimmjow's catlike face covering his eyes with his palm blinding him. With his weight behind him he slammed the skull of his opponent straight into the sand beneath them cratering the dune and sending dirt and rocks flying. After several seconds the claws of Shiro's hand gripped the jaw of the panther beneath him, and with a tug dragged him out of the sandy crater and hoisted the flailing cat into the air.

The cat dangled in his hands for a second, and the stunned and desperate growls of the panther with his outstretched clawing paws only served to incite Shiro for more violence. He spun on his feet, dragging the adjuchas in his hand through the air with him, and then flung the future Espada with only a fraction of his might. The still stunned Grimmjow flipped end over end through the air at high speed and crashed into the mountain side across from the both of them, also cratering it and sending rocks and boulders flying.

Grimmjow's head lolled as he almost lost consciousness on impact, and he fell from the indention in the mountain he had made with his body. He hit the sands beneath him with a thud, and with a mighty effort tried to regain his footing, and stay awake after being struck so viciously and with such force. He was already bruised and bleeding from numerous places, but that wasn't enough to put down the panther just yet.

Shiro's eyes glowed from within his skull like visage, and he stalked across the moonlit sand toward the downed Grimmjow. He took his time, giving the adjuchas the chance to recover. Since he wasn't going to kill Grimmjow he wanted this to last for a while. He just wanted to scare the crap out of the hollow just like Grimmjow had done to Ichigo all those years ago during their first meeting in the skies above Karakura town.

Grimmjow regained his senses, and looked up from the sand to witness the approaching hollow that he didn't recognize. He initially balked at the terrifying appearance of the horned hollow he was facing, but that fear only served to make him angrier and he pushed aside the feeling of self-preservation screaming at him to run for his life. Rage at his own fear and for being struck coursed through his veins, and his anger seeped into his voice as he shouted at his assailant.

"Who the hell are ya?! You want a piece of me?! I'll kill ya for hitting me!"

Shiro smiled in anticipation at the challenging words, even though he knew that the future Espada wouldn't be much fun at this point. It looked like Grimmjow was still the same as always.

It was then that Shiro unleashed the full brunt of his still contained reiatsu.

He held it back from transcendence, but let it crash down on the surrounding area at just the point before it disappeared. Red tinged black reiatsu blasted out of him, burning away rocks and boulders entirely out of existence and kicking up sand and dirt in a torrent of wind. Just the way he like it.

Grimmjow slammed into the sand again, his knees giving out under the monumental weight of the unnamed hollow's reiatsu, and he cried out in surprise. This reiatsu was the strongest he had ever encountered in his whole life as a hollow, and his mind blanked under its blinding force. He fought tooth and nail to remain awake under the suffocating weight of the spiritual pressure that was crushing him, but no matter how hard he pushed or how much reiatsu he exerted he couldn't get back on his feet with how close his opponent was.

It was then that the fear came back, but this time it was several times stronger. It was that fear and instinct that all hollows possessed that told them that they were in the presence of someone far _far_ stronger than them, and that they needed to run and cower to escape the wrath of the strong, or bow before their better. Everything in Grimmjow froze up then out of sheer uncontrollable terror, and it was in that moment that Grimmjow knew just exactly what was before him.

A Vasto-Lorde had come knocking, and Grimmjow was helpless before it.

Shiro kept approaching the downed hollow, and bent down to grab the terrified adjuchas by the throat. He lifted him up again with ease slightly restricting the panther's breathing, and he reveled in the absolute fear dancing in the eyes of the panther even if flecks of determination and anger still remained. Grimmjow for his part was still too shocked and afraid to even say anything.

"_**Oh dear, what's wrong Grimmjow? Cat got your tongue?"**_

Shiro cackled at his own little joke, and with Shiro having taken over Ichigo's body, his voice came out deep and heavy with a double timbre much like when Ichigo donned his mask. It only served to chill Grimmjow further, and another heavier lance of fear shot up the adjuchas' spine at the sound.

Grimmjow's blue eyes widened at Shiro's taunt.

"H-how the hell do ya know my name? Who the fuck are ya?!"

"_**Ah ah ahhhh, now why would I tell you that? You aint in any position to be asking questions now kitty-chan, and I don't feel like answering a weakling like you anyway."**_

Now, normally hollows in this situation wouldn't be dumb enough to antagonize their attacker, but Grimmjow is and always has been naturally antagonistic toward just about anyone he came across. Of course, Grimmjow was in no way stupid either, and in fact he was very perceptive in most situations.

However, Grimmjow will always be Grimmjow, even when staring certain death in the face.

"Fuck you! I aint weak! You watch, put me down and I'll tear you apart you bastard!" he yelled back, reaching up to rip his claws across the Vasto-Lorde's arm that was holding him up, only for them to harmlessly slide across it leaving sparks in their wake as Shiro's hierro prevented any damage.

Shiro laughed insanely, _**"You want me to put you down kitty? Alright!"**_

Shiro tossed the panther into the air in response, and then vanished into sonido. He blurred up and around the flailing cat and then launched into a flying round house kick, connecting his foot with the side of the panther's ribs with explosive force and sending the adjuchas rocketing across the sands, bouncing off of the ground and crashing through the tops of dunes.

Shiro blurred into sonido again, flying past the soaring Grimmjow, planted his feet in the sand again, and turned only to plant his fist into the face of the airborne adjuchas blasting him back the direction whence he came with the force of a bullet train.

The adjuchas shot back again and continued to tumble, tearing up whole stretches of the desert with his trajectory and leaving gaping wounds in the landscape. Finally, he rolled to a stop several hundred meters away coughing up a storm, bleeding from numerous wounds, and struggling to rise through the red haze of pain onto his wobbly feet.

Shiro fazed into existence beside him, peering down at the bleeding and wrecked Grimmjow below him. He casually raised his clawed foot, and brought it down on the panther's head, pressing it into the sand and forcing his knees to give out again.

"_**Haha! What was that ya said about tearing me apart? Eh Jaegerjaquez?!"**_

'Quit it Shiro! I said don't kill him!' Ichigo shouted at Shiro from within their inner world.

'_**Just watch Aibou! I might be beating him up, but don't worry. I have an idea, and I think you'll like it!'**_

Ichigo quieted down, annoyed with Shiro for going so far, but was content to sit back and keep watching for now. He might have been worried about his hollow's maniacal bloodlust a few years ago, but he trusted Shiro now to know what was at stake. Shiro knew how much it would mess up the future if he did in fact kill the future Espada, not to mention how angry Ichigo would be at losing a future comrade.

Grimmjow fought against the reiatsu still pressing down on him, and he snarled up at the Vasto-Lorde forgetting both his fear and his pain. He kept coughing despite himself as he struggled to breathe, and he glared at the terrifying demon that had attacked him.

"I _*cough*_ don't know who the hell you are, _*cough cough*_ or how ya know who I am, but I'll kill ya for this!"

Shiro bent at the waist to peer into Grimmjow's eyes, and the grinning visage of the horned skull matched his own hidden grin as he replied, _**"Good! I like that fire! Get as strong as ya can Kitty! Just try and find me, and don't stop getting stronger until you do! Maybe one day, when you're not such a loser, than we can fight for real!"**_

Grimmjow's eyes flared with anger and hate, "Don't you dare look down on me! You're damn right I'll get stronger! I'll find you one day, and then I'll be King!"

"_**Haha! That's what I want to hear! I look forward to the day I can beat your ass into the ground fair and square Grimmjow! See ya later!"**_

With that Shiro tore open a garganta to the Rukongai several meters away, and he took the pressure off of Grimmjow's head. He stepped away and hopped up and into the Garganta, smiling as Grimmjow unsteadily climbed back onto his feet and attempted to lunge at his retreating form despite his wounds. With a snap the garganta closed in his face, and Grimmjow sailed through the air it had just occupied, only to collapse again into a bloody heap in the sand.

The panther climbed to his feet again, eyes darting for anything to release his anger upon. Finding nothing, with all of his pent up rage he roared into the night sky. Angry at having been made a fool of, angry at having been beaten, and above all angry at the unnamed Vasto-lorde for looking down on him.

"Oh I'm going to find you again," he growled to the empty desert around him, "I'm going to find you, you bastard, and when I do…..I'm going to fucking _mutilate_ you."

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><p>Shiro stood in the darkness of the garganta and guffawed.<p>

'_**Did you see that Aibou? Haha I really beat the crap out of the old cat didn't I?'**_

'Damn it Shiro! Now he's already going to have a problem with us in the future! Just what the hell did that accomplish?'

Shiro kept laughing to himself despite Ichigo's words, and finally when his howls of laughter faded after a few minutes, and Ichigo's questions got steadily more pissed he replied, _**'Don't you see Aibou? We just gave him a whole lot of extra incentive to get stronger by making him our enemy and giving him a goal. You know what the lot of them like Tia, Starrk, Grimmjow, and Ulquiorra along with their fraccion did during the war. The stronger kitty is then the better it will be for all of us when the time comes. It will just mean that if it's needed, then we'll have another strong sword to put against Aizen's throat if things don't go as planned.'**_

Ichigo steamed for a few seconds longer, and then when Shiro's words registered, he calmed down and marveled for a second, 'That…that was actually very smart of you Shiro. I'm surprised.'

Shiro frowned and cocked an eyebrow, _**'Oh shove it King. Don't act like I'm an idiot or something.'**_

Ichigo scoffed, 'But…you are an idiot.'

'_I can't help but agree with that assessment.'_

Shiro stood there stunned for a second at the digs before he shouted back, _**'Eh? Well fuck you both too then. See if I help out next time I have a good idea!'**_

With that he tore off his horned mask, letting their resurreccion fade and the hollow hole close up, before he roughly grabbed Ichigo's consciousness and practically threw him into the driver seat without warning or fanfare.

After a few seconds of light-headedness due to the rapid fire turn around Ichigo regained his scattered senses, and sensed that Shiro had done the same and was now going at it with Zangetsu in their inner world shattering skyscrapers and blowing up whole blocks of the city-scape in their spar.

Ichigo shook his head in exasperation at his hollows antics once more, before taking off along the reishi pathway into the dark oblivion of the garganta.

He thought back on Shiro's actions, once again surprised by his hollows ingenuity. It really was a good idea. Several of the Espada that Aizen had started the war with had all defected at one point or another. Tia had left along with her fraccion after Aizen had openly betrayed her in one of the larger battles in the living world, claiming that she and several other already dead Espada had been too weak to serve him.

After being cut down and almost dying at Aizen's hands despite years of faithful service she defected fully along with Mila Rose, Sung-sun, and Apacci. She had been the first Espada to join the side of the shinigami, and while Yama-jii had been reticent at first, all of them had been so desperate at the time that they would have taken pretty much any help they could get.

Ulquiorra had also left not long after, but for reasons that surprised many. It had been after Aizen had effectively absorbed most of the southern rukongai killing billions at once with the hogyoku, and when we had been powerless to stop him. For someone who didn't really feel emotions like guilt or remorse and especially pity, for him to leave Aizen's side because of the madman's depravity alone…well that spoke volumes of just how far Aizen had fallen due to the hogyoku. Orihime must have rubbed off on him more than was initially apparent.

Over the years he had definitely changed whilst on the Shinigami side, and it really started to show, right up until his death when he gave his life protecting a hospital and shelter district within the Seireitei that was dedicated to helping what was left of the wounded rukongai civilians and children.

Grimmjow had left for much simpler reasons, even if they matched Grimmjow's character and motivations perfectly. He'd claimed that he'd never been happy serving under Aizen, always planning to kill him in the end so that Grimmjow could take his place as 'King of Hueco Mundo'. Once it became obvious that he couldn't do that on his own anymore, he joined up with the shinigami in hopes of one day being able to put his blade through Aizen's heart.

Plus, when Aizen had effectively gone mad he was no longer someone Grimmjow respected the strength of. In the former 6th Espada's mind, the strength that Aizen had gained wasn't his own now that he'd fused with the hogyoku, and the means that he'd taken to get where he was weren't right. Using his own words, it had been 'a bullshit cheap trick', and it was power that he hadn't earned through blood, sweat, and tears. He couldn't serve, respect, and fight for someone like that.

Starrk and Lilynette had unfortunately been the last of the Espada to defect, and they had been all that was left of the original Espada from the beginning of the war after a first few years. All of the others had either died one way or another, or had defected. Starrk had always felt indebted to Aizen for giving him the chance to have friends and comrades. People that he could hold dear, and count on without having to worry about them dying just by being in his presence.

However, now that Starrk had had to watch as all of those same comrades either left or died because of Aizen's very actions, only for them to be replaced by over-powered monstrosities that were hyper-evolved by the hogyoku…well…he and Lilynette left in the end as well. Finally coming to find out what true comradery and friendship was like on the side of the Shinigami.

Nelliel was obvious of course. She had joined the shinigami side at the drop of a hat as soon as her beloved 'Itsygo' had asked her to, bringing Dondochakka and Pesche along with her.

That was why Ichigo had told Shiro not to kill any of them if he sensed them out there in the desert. Ichigo wanted to save them just as much as any of his other friends. After they'd sided with Ichigo he'd been able to build bonds just as strong with them as he had with people like Renji or Ikkaku. Fighting a war to save the world with someone did that.

The other Espada had all been lost causes though, and Ichigo was prepared to deal with them when the time came. If they found them wandering out there in the desert though, they wouldn't kill them. That would mess up the future and present them with a situation similar to if they saved the Visored from hollowfication. Aizen would just find new Espada that would take their place, Espada that Ichigo didn't know the abilities or motives of, and he might end up killing someone that didn't actually need to be killed simply because he didn't know them.

After he dealt with Aizen and the dust had settled a bit, then he'd take a trip to Hueco Mundo. He'd put down those Espada that he knew for a fact couldn't be saved or reasoned with.

Szayelaporro Granz, Aaroniero Arruruerie, Zommari Rureaux, Baraggan Louisenbairn, Nnoitra Gilga, Luppi Antenor, and Yammy Llargo would all probably have to die. It would take all of his power to pull it off, especially if they all attacked him at once, but he knew there was a very slim chance that he could convince or save any of them when it came down to it.

The only way he'd let them live would be if they submitted, although he seriously doubted people like Baraggan or Yammy, and especially _Nnoitra_ would submit with how arrogant and full of themselves they were. Although, Szayelaporro, Zommari, and Luppi might be allowed to live if they were given the chance to see just how outclassed they'd be. Plus, now that he thought about it, Luppi might not even become an Espada with Grimmjow not having to be replaced as punishment.

He'd kill Aaroniero just on principle, submission or not. He really hated that over grown test-tube for the sadistic shit he pulled with Rukia when masquerading as his then dead cousin.

So. Shiro was right. If it did indeed come down to it, then having Grimmjow strong would be a good thing. In the unlikely event that Aizen did in fact manage to slip through his grasp and all of Ichigo's plans backfired, then having another strong sword like Kaien would definitely be a good thing.

If he didn't need Grimmjow? Well, one day he'd win him over. He'd really have to try though. He might have to beat his ass in a couple of spars, but hopefully they could become friends/rivals again someday in the distant future.

Ichigo kept up his pace of a jog as he continued through the darkness. Up ahead the cloudy black began to thin, and through it Ichigo could see the approaching light of his destination.

'Shiro? Where did you aim the garganta?'

Shiro paused his spar with Zangetsu, and he answered back through his labored breathing, _**'Uh…Geta-boshi's labs up north.'**_

Ichigo nodded, and reached up to tear away the dark fabric of the dimension before him. He once again hopped out and landed softly in the grass, only to be startled when he noticed that it was already dark outside.

'Damn it Shiro! It's late! We were supposed to be back earlier than this, and now I have to shunpo back to the compound!'

Shiro scoffed but kept up his fight with the old man even as he answered, _**'I aint going to apologize. I was having fun.'**_

Ichigo scowled harder than normal, and then took off in shunpo again. Idly noticing what he'd failed to see the first time he'd popped up here in this timeline. The absence of the lab's metal hatch and cover. That reminder only served to darken his mood further.

He blurred through the trees, in a rush to leave the area behind. The 12th division had no doubt detected the opening of a garganta in the rukongai, and might send out a squad of shinigami to deal with it.

They probably wouldn't of course, the 78th and the surrounding districts had basically been abandoned long ago, but with all the incidents going on recently at his hands they were probably keeping an eye on the 78th since that was where they had first detected him. There might even be a patrol of shinigami or even Onmitsukido stationed nearby just for the purpose of keeping an eye on the clearing, and surrounding area if they needed someone on hand to deal with a disturbance.

* * *

><p>Kaien once again sat in the study as the night darkened further, with a cup of tea in his hands, the fireplace lit before him, and his thoughts a scrambled mess.<p>

Dinner followed by the kid's study time had ended about 5 hours ago, and after some argument he'd managed to get the two kids to go to sleep. They'd wanted to stay up and wait for Ichigo to return of course, but with the combined effort of Kaien, Koganehiko, and Shiroganehiko the kids had finally relented.

Now as he sat here, doubts were starting to creep up on Kaien no matter how hard he tried to push them away. Ichigo still wasn't back yet, and he'd told Kaien that he'd be back this evening. Now it was well past midnight, and there was still no sign of his supposed Shinigami instructor.

Had something happened? He knew that Ichigo was strong, and he had been confident earlier that evening when he'd told the kids that there wasn't any trouble that Ichigo couldn't handle. However, now he was a little worried. What errand could he have possibly had to run that would put him in danger like that though?

Maybe he'd changed his mind after all. Maybe after he'd left, the idea of training Kaien had lost the appeal, if there had been any in the first place. Perhaps he thought Kaien wasn't worth the effort, or maybe his 'errand' was just a front so that he could leave without him having to tell Kaien why he wouldn't really train him.

He frowned, those thoughts were depressing.

He looked at the fire crackling before him in the hearth. It really was getting late, and if he was going to wake up in the morning to train as usual without Ichigo then he'd need to get some sleep. He set down his tea and rose to his feet, and turned to walk toward the door.

He almost jumped clean out of his skin when there across the room from him stood Ichigo with the study door open in his hand.

"Ah, you're still awake, good…sorry for being late. Took a bit longer than I had first expected to get what I needed."

Kaien stood there for a few seconds and then deflated as his heart rate settled. Damn that guy was quiet.

"Uh it's no problem, it's good to see you back. The kids got a little worried, but they went to sleep fine in the end."

Ichigo nodded and then approached him, and Kaien's doubts steadily vanished at the sight of Ichigo actually before him. He was relieved to see that Ichigo had really come back after all. Kaien watched as he approached, and he eyed him curiously as the orange haired man reached into his robes only to draw out a sheathed sword.

Ichigo paused for a second, and then awkwardly stuck it out for him to take.

"Here. This is for you."

Kaien cocked an eyebrow, but took the sword none-the-less. Why was Ichigo giving him a sword? He already had the one his father had had forged for him. Was his not good enough?

He voiced his questions, "What's this for? Was this what you went to get? Why?"

Ichigo chuckled for a second and then pointed at the sword in his hand.

"I'm not giving you any ordinary sword Kaien. Take a closer look."

Kaien was still dubious. He looked at it again, and it really didn't look all that different from any other sword. It had a blue wrapped hilt, and a rectangular cross guard with lightly curved edges. He drew the sword from its black sheath, and he looked closely at the steel blade itself. It was beautifully forged he noted, and from the feel of it perfectly balanced as well. It was even better than the sword his father had given him. There wasn't anything really intriguing about it beyond its wonderful make though.

He looked back questioningly at Ichigo, and the mysterious shinigami shook his head.

"You're not looking hard enough. Try closing your eyes maybe, and try envisioning the blade. That might help."

Now Kaien was really confused, and it probably showed on his face since Ichigo looked highly amused. Or well, as highly amused as you can look with a scowl on your face. How was he supposed to look hard at it with his eyes closed?

He sighed, but did it anyway. He closed his eyes, and tried to envision and examine the blade in his hand. All was dark for a few moments, and he almost thought that Ichigo was playing him for a fool.

However, just as he was about to open his eyes and ask Ichigo what he was trying to pull, the blade in his hands caught his attention. There, something brushed against his senses, making him almost start in surprise. Slowly, as if opening a book, Kaien became more aware of the sword in his hands. He could feel the texture of it, and he could almost…see the blade? A blurry image of the sword formed before him in the darkness. He could feel something within the blade in his hands, but he didn't know what it was. He couldn't quite place it, but it felt completely right while at the same time kind of wrong for the blade to be in his hands. It felt almost as if the sword gave off a presence of its very own…it was primal…animalistic even.

He opened his eyes again to the dark room of the study, and turned startled eyes onto Ichigo.

"What is this Ichigo? I don't know what is up with this sword of yours, but I…I don't know what to say. It felt like it was…"

It felt like it was watching him. It sounded bizarre, but for whatever reason he couldn't shake the feeling that while he was looking at the blade it had also been looking at him too…judging him…assessing him.

It unnerved him.

"I already told you Kaien. It's not my sword. It's yours now."

"But…what is it?" Kaien for his part wasn't entirely sure if he wanted the thing no matter how nicely forged it was.

Ichigo's mouth twitched at the corners in the beginning of a smile that never seemed to finish.

"It's an asauchi Kaien. Your asauchi."

Kaien's eyes grew wide as saucers, and he almost dropped the thing right then.

"What?! An asauchi?! Ho-how did you get your hands on one?!"

Ichigo shook his head, "Quiet down Kaien, or you'll wake everyone in the house up."

Kaien piped down, but kept almost frantically questioning him. After thinking up a quick lie, Ichigo finally relented.

"I uh…I still have some friends back in the Seireitei despite my retirement. The zanjutsu department head gave me one willingly when I said I had a student I wanted to teach."

'_**Heh willingly, asked real nicely too didn't ya.' **_Shiro reminded Ichigo quietly.

Kaien looked down at the blade in his hands with whole new eyes. An asauchi?! _His_ asauchi?! These were the blades of the shinigami! These were what transformed into the shinigami's zanpakuto after the imprinting process!

"You're going to have to keep that blade with you on your person all day every day, even when you sleep, if you want to be able to imprint upon it Kaien. Feed your reiatsu into it daily, and I will teach you the rest for what is needed to communicate with your zanpakuto spirit when the time comes."

Kaien looked up, and he was so stunned that he couldn't do anything but nod. He could barely believe what was happening. He had just been given an actual asauchi. Ichigo was actually going to train him! He'd be a shinigami even before he'd be able to even go to the academy!

Ichigo turned away, and said over his shoulder, "Get some sleep tonight. We'll be waking up early to start training. I want to see just where your level of ability lies…and I will also be testing your resolve tomorrow, and throughout the days to come."

Kaien stood there stunned for a few moments longer, but he finally regained his voice just as Ichigo was about to exit the room, "Uh Ichigo…"

Ichigo paused again, and looked over his shoulder once more.

Kaien paused and thought about his words, and then spoke up, voice quivering with gratitude, "Thank you. For the chance you're giving me I mean, and for the asauchi. I promise I won't disappoint you."

Ichigo just nodded, and then left with silent steps, vanishing into the hall.

Kaien stood there for a few more seconds marveling at the beautiful sword that was just given to him, before his thoughts were shattered by a sudden realization.

Ichigo had gone to the academy? The Seireitei was two days away from here! How did Ichigo manage to get there and _back_ again in just one day?!

How fast was that guy?!

Out in the hallway Ichigo headed toward the exit of the house once more. He needed to head into the nearest town to pick up what he needed for the training tomorrow. He grinned crookedly despite himself. He was kind of looking forward to the exercise he had planned, and he was certain that Kaien would _not_ enjoy even one second of it.

First off, he needed to find a hat.

* * *

><p>Ichigo stood out in the yard in the pre-dawn light once again, and looked down at the ridiculous article of clothing in his hands.<p>

Just looking at the damn thing made him scowl harder.

After some searching in the constantly open market street of the nearby district he'd found a clothing stall that sold hats. It had physically pained him, but in the end he had bought the blue and yellow striped bucket hat that he now held.

God he hated this type of hat. So many bad memories revolved around a similar green and white one that even this off color one made him want to go shikai on it. He had to constantly remind himself that it was necessary for the exercise to keep from obliterating it.

Within the next ten days he'd fight Kaien and attempt to kill him, while in that same period Kaien had to try and knock the hat off of his head. They would fight non-stop, no time to rest, no time to eat, and no actual sleep or anything. Just unending combat.

Ichigo could do it easily, he didn't get much sleep anyways. During the war he had to do that pretty much all of the time, and as a soul it was definitely feasible. It would obviously be impossible with a human body, but souls were far more durable, so he was confident that Kaien could pull it off too. It was just a matter of if Kaien _would_ pull it off. Those here in the afterlife didn't get hungry unless they had spiritual energy, but those that had it needed to eat. However, they didn't need to eat as often as a human, and it took a lot longer for them to starve. Those with spiritual energy felt hunger though, and they definitely felt exhaustion.

Of course, this exercise's purpose was different from the time that he had done it with Kisuke. Back then, it had been so that Ichigo could learn his zanpakuto's name. Ichigo had no delusions with this. There was no way that Kaien would be able to learn his zanpakuto's name with his asauchi being practically blank, so the purpose of this wasn't for that.

It was so that Ichigo could gauge Kaien. He wanted to see just how much resolve the kid had. He needed to know if Kaien had what it took to really protect those closest to him.

However, if he could last these ten days, and still not have knocked the hat off of his head Ichigo would still pass him regardless. There were two reasons that Ichigo had decided on using this as the first method of his training. The first was the test of resolve of course, but secondly it was so that Ichigo could instill some instincts into the guy. Get him used to combat as it were, before he got down to the rest of the training he had planned out.

So far from what he could tell, the kid only had basic instruction. He knew the forms and he knew the strikes, but using those in a fight wouldn't get him through life entirely. He needed to learn how to improvise on the spot, and how to adapt to his opponent. He needed to learn that those simple strikes wouldn't be enough. Ichigo wanted to help Kaien by literally going after his head so that he could be used to a sword swinging for his neck, and to be able to retaliate in kind. He wanted the kid to be able to react to those things, instead of balk at them like he had during that first night with the hollow.

Ichigo reached up and threw off his hood, and planted the hat squarely on his head making sure it was secure enough for shunpo.

He grimaced. He probably looked absolutely ridiculous.

He glanced up and watched as the shoji door to the back yard slid open, and Kaien stepped out onto the lawn clad in his blue training kimono that had the Shiba family crest on it. He had his asauchi tied to his waist just as Ichigo had instructed, and the kid marched across the grass with a resolved glint in his eyes.

Good. He'd need it.

Ichigo felt a lance of annoyance shoot through him though when in the next second Kaien suddenly choked up with laughter upon spying Ichigo wearing the hat. Ichigo stepped forward and cuffed the kid over the head sending him to the floor whilst still laughing.

"Shut up Kaien, after I'm done with you, you won't be laughing."

Ichigo paused for a moment, and then continued speaking to the floored Shiba, "Did you tell the kids what I told you to tell them this morning?"

Kaien stopped his laughing and peered up at his instructor, "Yeah I did, although I don't know what you want to do with 10 whole days. Where are we going, and what are you planning to do? The hat is included in that last question by the way."

"You'll see," Ichigo answered back mischievously before he reached down and grabbed the kid, hoisting him off of the ground before throwing him over his shoulder. Kaien's cry of surprise was lost in the wind as Ichigo blasted full tilt into shunpo, taking off up and over the woods with Kaien hanging on for dear life.

Several minutes later Ichigo came to a stop floating in the air a couple dozen meters above the ground. He roughly grabbed his Shiba cargo and tossed him down to the ground, making the kid hit a bush before bouncing off and onto the grass in a tangled heap. He slowly dropped down himself, and called out to the dizzy Shiba.

"That was for laughing earlier, now listen up."

Kaien slowly righted himself, stood up next to a tree, and listened despite still being a little lightheaded.

"For the next ten days I'm going to be training you just like I had been trained by my own teachers, you got it?"

Kaien was still a little lost, but nodded.

"Do you see my hat?" Kaien nodded again, "Your job for the next ten days is to try and knock this off of my head. No stopping for food, and no stopping for rest until you manage to knock it off. Between now and the end of the next ten days, if you give up then I will no longer train you. You will no longer be my student, and there will be nothing you can say to convince me otherwise. Understand?"

Kaien was sharp eyed and focused now, determination lining his shoulders. He nodded his understanding, but asked a question.

"All I have to do is knock off your hat…?"

"Yep."

"Uhhh…then what will you be doing? I'm assuming you're going to try and stop me right?"

"More than that Kaien," Ichigo answered ominously as he drew both his katana and his wakizashi making Kaien take a step back in apprehension, "For the next ten days, I'm going to try and _kill_ you."

With that Ichigo took off in a slower shunpo appearing before Kaien, and swinging his katana slow enough to give the kid a chance to dodge. Kaien yelped and then jumped out of the way, only to watch as the katana that had just been racing toward his abdomen sheared clean through the tree he had been standing next to, cutting it completely in half causing it to fall backwards into the forest.

Kaien's eyes widened, and he was so caught off guard that he didn't see the foot coming at him until it was fully imbedded in his chest blasting him off of his feet, and sending him careening through the trees.

"You need to do better than that Kaien! Or else you aren't going to make it through these next ten days still breathing!"

Ichigo let a smile dance across his face for the briefest of moments. Oh man, this was going to be fun.

* * *

><p>Kukaku ate her breakfast, and looked out at the back yard through the window. She thought back on what her older brother had told her yesterday when he had come into their room that morning before the sun had even risen.<p>

Supposedly, he and Ichi-ji had gone on some sort of trip as the start of Kaien-nii's training, and they wouldn't be back for 10 whole days. Kukaku smiled at that, happy that her big brother's dream to become a shinigami was finally able to come true. While she was a little confused as to why they needed to go on a trip just for training she was still glad that it was happening at all.

She just hoped that they wouldn't get hurt. They were still out pretty far into the rukongai, and a hollow attack could come out of nowhere just like it had for them that one night when they'd first met Ichi-ji.

She idly wondered what they'd be doing out there, curious as to just what the training consisted of before turning back to her miso soup. She dismissed her worries since it was just the start of the training, and Ichi-ji wouldn't do anything that was too hard…right?

* * *

><p>Kaien's exhaustion was reaching a new limit, and he slumped against a tree desperately trying to hide his presence whilst getting his breathing under control.<p>

This was getting to be absolutely ridiculous.

It had been three days since he'd first been kicked through the forest, and ever since then Kaien had done nothing but retreat. He was constantly on the run, only trading a few blows with Ichigo every time he was discovered (which was quite often), before he'd have to shunpo away again just to keep his head attached to his shoulders. Even if he wasn't all that skilled in shunpo, he was still thankful that he'd learned the basics of flash-stepping. If he hadn't, than this would have been over a lot sooner.

He reached up to grip his chest, and to try and calm his pounding heart. His reiatsu was depleting slowly just through the use of shunpo alone, and he was _really_ starting to get hungry.

He didn't know how he was going to last 7 more days of this, and he really didn't know how he was going to knock the hat off of Ichigo's head.

Suddenly, he sensed something within him screaming at him to move, and he instantly rolled sideways as he felt something narrowly brush past his ear. He scrambled way from the tree to jump to his feet.

There, in the branches of the tree, was the nightmare Ichigo himself. He had the tip of his wakizashi buried into the trunk right where Kaien's head had been seconds ago, and with morbid certainty Kaien realized that if he hadn't moved than he would have died.

A fraction of a second later, Ichigo tore the blade from the tree and descended on him like a bat out of hell. A blur of orange and black topped with yellow and blue striking with staggering strength against Kaien's own asauchi. He intercepted the first swing of the wakizashi, but then had to duck beneath the following katana. He'd already tried to block the damn katana before, only to have his entire frame rattled under the weight behind that larger blade. Kaien was starting to notice patterns in Ichigo's fighting if only in passing. The shinigami seemed to lead with the wakizashi, following it closely with a more powerful strike from his katana, which was the one he always tried to avoid.

He jumped back, and then spying a perceived opening in Ichigo's guard took a chance and lunged forward with a thrust. He realized his own error milliseconds later when he over-extended leaving himself wide open, and as Ichigo dodged his thrust the shinigami brought up his knee straight into Kaien's exposed gut from below, knocking the wind clean out of Kaien. He followed it with an elbow to Kaien's back sending him to the floor in a heap.

With the air successfully knocked out of him, it was all Kaien could do to roll out of the way when he sensed rather than saw the katana plunging for the back of his neck. He rolled, still not having been able to draw a breath, and jumped to his feet again. He brought up his blade just in time to keep himself from being vertically bisected by the wakizashi, and then dodged to the side to avoid the katana thrust at his stomach that he had no way of blocking.

He stumbled for a second over a root from a tree, and flailed to try and catch himself only to be extremely thankful for that root tripping him as he watched the blade of the katana pass in a swipe where his head had been seconds ago.

That was lucky, better get out of there before his luck ran out.

He regained his footing, and tried to launch into shunpo, only to run straight into a kneecap at high speed.

He was starting to slightly regret asking Ichigo to be his instructor.

* * *

><p>Satoru Shihouin strode up the main compound of the divisions, and approached the stairs that led up to the 1st division for his first captain's meeting since he'd been released from the 4th. It had been five whole days before Unohana-taichou had agreed to finally let him leave, and it was only after she was certain he was perfectly fine.<p>

His spine chilled at the very thought of the captain. She was a nice woman in general, but if you ever upset her, then you were really in for _hell_. She was downright terrifying sometimes.

He'd filed his written report on his encounter with the ryoka from several days ago, and so far from what he had heard there hadn't been anything else of note lately that could really be connected back to the mysterious shinigami intruder. The only thing that had happened was that a garganta had opened up in the 78th somewhere near where the massive signature had originated from a week ago or so ago.

Even then, the shinigami at the 12th division had been reticent to immediately say it was from the ryoka. The garganta had opened up several hours after the shinigami had left, and the time difference didn't really match up. Plus, hollows opened garganta out there in the outer districts all the time. They didn't really do it starting at the lower 60's or below, but in the _78__th_ they were fairly common.

Satoru came to a stop before the doors of the captain's meeting hall, and his shoulders slumped.

Damn. He had been dreading this moment.

He squared his shoulders then, and prepared himself for the rounds of teasing he was about to be bombarded with.

Damn ryoka.

At least he had his date with Tindra to look forward to that evening. That made him smile, even if he was still a bit nervous about the whole idea.

It might turn out to be a good day after all.

* * *

><p>Ichigo was perched up in a tree once more, and he peered through the nighttime darkness of the trees at his hiding student. He sat there silently for a few minutes, giving Kaien a short time to rest before he would go at him again.<p>

He had to admit. He was pleased with Kaien's progress. In the past seven days the kid had gone from a stumbling mess to actually being able to fend him off for whole segments of near 5-10 minutes before having to take off again. He was putting his past teaching in zanjutsu to good use, but also learning to incorporate random and unpredictable moves into his attacks.

His ability to sense incoming strikes was improving by leaps and bounds. He was sensing killing intent, and the use of his other senses like hearing and touch were being used instead of just his eyes to anticipate and dodge strikes. He was even reacting purely on instinct sometimes, whenever Ichigo made sure to give absolutely no indication away that he was attacking.

He was using shunpo every once in a while when fighting, and he'd actually planned out and executed a surprise attack with a byakurai yesterday in the middle of one of their engagements. Very good progress, if he did say so himself.

His shunpo had improved as well. It wasn't a huge difference, but still a noticeable improvement in speed from that first day that they had fought out in the yard. It was actually comparable to an unseated officer's shunpo now to match his reiatsu strength. Maybe almost dying dozens of times made you pick up the pace as it were.

Nothing like the threat of death to give incentive for improvement.

Alright, times up.

He hopped down from his perch, and keeping out of the moonlight crept silently through the trees flanking the kid's hidden position. He came to a stop within the darkness of a grouping of trees several meters from the clump of bushes that his student was hiding in, and he half-grinned when he spied his student scanning the woods in the complete opposite direction that Ichigo was standing.

He kept silently moving as close as he could using a level of stealth that he knew Kaien couldn't detect no matter how much he had improved, trying to be practically on top of Kaien before the kid noticed him. Once he was pretty much only a few feet from his squatting student he cocked back his leg and waited.

He almost burst out laughing when Kaien continued to scan the trees before him, completely oblivious to Ichigo standing right behind him ready to kick him in the face. After about 10 seconds Kaien seemed to freeze in place, and Ichigo grinned sadistically as his student's head slowly turned dreading what he'd find there behind him. Once he'd turned enough, and his eyes had widened in realization of his impending doom, Ichigo planted his foot straight in Kaien's face blasting him out of the bushes and sending him rolling through the woods.

Christ, he was enjoying this! No wonder Kisuke and Yoruichi had enjoyed tormenting him so much. He stepped up and over the bush to pursue his no doubt retreating student.

Suddenly, his eyes widened, and he ripped his katana from its sheath as he had to block the downward strike from Kaien as he came careening out of the darkness.

"LET'S GO ICHIGO!" Kaien shouted in anger, as sparks jumped from their joined blades illuminating both of their faces with their brief glow.

Ichigo smiled out of surprise, Kaien was going on the offensive?

"Alright, let's go."

He deflected Kaien off balancing the kid for a second, and then jumped back to draw his wakizashi too.

There was another reason that he could understand why Kisuke and Yoruichi enjoyed training him so much.

Even right now at the very start of it all, he was damn proud of the growth happening within Kaien before his very eyes.

* * *

><p>The night of the 9th day slowly closed, and the dawn was fast approaching, meaning the training exercise was soon coming to an end.<p>

Kaien stood across from Ichigo, panting and sagging on his feet. He was battered, bruised, and bleeding from random wounds. His asauchi was sinking in his grasp, and it looked like it was taking all of his resolve just to stay on his feet at this point. All around them trees had been blasted out of the ground, or chopped clean through practically clearing the line of sight to create a small clearing around them.

They'd been going at it for about an hour now, and Ichigo had to admit that after being awake for almost 10 days straight he too was gaining some strain around his eyes.

The hat was still on his head though, so they couldn't rest just yet. Even if dawn was within the hour the fight had to continue. They simply weren't done.

Kaien knew this so once again he straightened himself, and raised his katana into the ready stance. Ichigo eyed the kid down the length of the katana, and was pleased to see that even after all the hell he'd put his cousin through there was still a strong resolve burning in his eyes. Good to see his student still wasn't giving up, especially here at the end.

Kaien lunged across the space between them, and with a deft twist came swinging in from the left with a short slash. Ichigo leaned back and let the blade pass harmlessly by his nose and stepped in close within the kids guard to swipe at his legs. Kaien jumped back before springing forward again with agility he didn't possess at the start, and actually stepped onto Ichigo's katana tip with his _foot_ pinning it to the ground as he blocked Ichigo's wakizashi one handed.

Ichigo's eyes lit up in appreciation when he noticed the glow of kido that Kaien had been charging behind his back, and he caught the tail end of a whisper from Kaien's lips.

"…byakurai."

Within the next second Ichigo had to spin out of the way as the weak blast passed by his back, and his sword came un-lodged as a result. He looked back only to see that Kaien had disappeared into shunpo. He sensed a second later that his student was coming from above him, and he jumped back as a katana came down at him in an arc.

Kaien landed, only to launch himself into another shunpo around Ichigo again blurring back and forth before Ichigo's vision. Ichigo realized that he was using the same strategy that he had used before during their first fight in the yard, and he wondered why Kaien thought it would work this time.

Finally, after shunpoing back and forth and around Ichigo several times Kaien came to a stop and lunged once more in a fast thrust at Ichigo's back this time. Ichigo flowed like water into a deflection, and succeeding in catching Kaien's blade against his wakizashi's hilt only to forcefully slam his katana's kissaki twice against the same blade knocking it out of Kaien's hands in a perfect autumn leaf strike…but something was wrong.

That had been easier than it should have been. There was no grip on his opponent's blade.

The next second he realized why…yes, his student was disarmed.

But, he was also gone…and so was the hat.

The sun crested the horizon with the early morning dawn, and Ichigo smiled.

He sheathed his blades, and chuckled lightly in appreciation. His student had done well. He turned to tell Kaien just as much, only to stop and laugh full on at the sight before him. There, lying face down on the ground of the forest floor with the hat clutched tight in his hand was Kaien.

He was completely asleep.

After a minute of laughing at the sight Ichigo bent down to scoop up his student's asauchi. He plodded across the grass to his comatose student and picked him up too, slinging him over his shoulder with ease. He looked around the devastated clearing appreciatively, and glanced over his shoulder at his knocked out student before speaking quietly to the unaware Shiba.

"Good job cousin. I'm glad to see that at least some of the stories were true."

With that Ichigo took off into a lazy shunpo. He should probably get back to the compound before Kukaku and Ganju started worrying. Besides, he was starving, and Kaien deserved a warm bed after the past ten days.

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><p><strong>Hope you all enjoyed it. If you feel up to it please leave a review.<strong>


	6. A Break In The Clouds

**Disclaimer - I do not own anything from Bleach**

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><p>Warnings: AU, Time Travel, Ichigo-centric, violence, language<p>

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><p><strong>Author's note: Hello everyone, first off I'd like to say Merry Christmas, and for those of you that do not celebrate Christmas then I hope you have a wonderful holiday. This one is a bit longer than usual, but I didn't really know where to stop so it just sort of dragged my fingers across the keys against my will. Anyway, here's a Christmas gift from me to all of you. Ummm...On another note, I just want all of you to know that there probably will be canon divergence for which I am sorry. It's easy to get facts straight in the present time of the manga, but this far back its really difficult to scrounge up accurate information or information that doesn't conflict with other information. As it stands this part of the timeline that my fic centers on doesn't really have anything at all on it anywhere so I just hope you all can bear with me please as I quite frankly pull some stuff out of my ass.<strong>

**On a final note, if you guys have any relevant information for me, or if you have ideas, or if you just have questions feel free to PM me. I probably won't answer questions that have to do with the future story line, but I'm sure you all already knew that. **

**Love you guys, and if you feel up for it then please review. It always makes my day to see reviews from you all. **

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><p>Chapter 6: A Break In The Clouds<p>

Kukaku sat on the edge of the back porch swinging her legs as she happily munched on a rice cake. Ganju was laid out next to her, spread across the wood on his back humming some unknown tune to himself as he shared the sweets with her. When Koganehiko and Shiroganehiko had gone to the market for the week's food they had been kind enough to pick them up as a reward for them finishing their homework early. Of course, they hadn't finished their homework early for the treats, though that was a bonus. The real reason they'd been in such a hurry was because they'd been eager to see their big brother train in the yard with Ichi-ji. It was practically their one and only real source of entertainment out here after all.

Kukaku took another little bite, trying her best to savor the cake by eating it slowly (unlike her little brother who was stuffing his face), and she thought back to what had happened a few days ago. Ichigo and Kaien had indeed come back from their excursion when they said they would, but her big brother had been slung over Ichigo's shoulder completely knocked out.

They had all, save Ichi-ji, been rightfully…concerned.

Kaien had been an absolute mess. His robes had been torn to shreds, and he was covered head to toe in dirt, mud, and wounds. None of the wounds had been terribly serious, but he had carried a multitude of bruises, blisters, and bleeding cuts. His hair had been a mess too, it had looked as if someone had come at it with shears and cut off locks of hair at random, not to mention his shoes had been completely missing.

He looked like he'd been mauled by a hollow, and Ichigo for his part had looked pretty much as fresh as a daisy.

When they'd all freaked out Ichi-ji had dismissed their concerns about Kaien, claiming 'oh he'll be alright in the morning', or 'it'll help to build character' and 'just throw him in the bath and put some food in him, he'll be fine.'

Obviously, that wouldn't do.

It had been Ganju's childish fussing, and Koganehiko's and Shiroganehiko's worry that Ichigo had dismissed. Kukaku had been worried for Kaien as well, but she had stayed off to the sidelines to watch it all unfold instead. When the other three failed, she made her move. Kukaku didn't really know why, but after she had the chance to go up to him and ask him nicely, throwing in a pout for good measure, he'd capitulated almost instantly despite having waved off the others.

He'd looked down at her, and after she asked, his face scrunched up in an expression she couldn't understand, and then he'd done as she'd asked. He'd quietly gone into Kaien's room and healed the majority of her big brother's wounds with kido as Kaien slept.

She used that face on Kaien all the time, and for some reason it worked on Ichigo just as well. She idly wondered why that would be.

Weirdly enough, the next morning Kaien had practically exploded on Ichigo, shouting confusing things like, 'You were trying to kill me!', and 'You're a bloody madman!'

Ichigo had just looked at him for a few seconds without answering before throwing a punch at Kaien's face point blank.

To both Kukaku and Ganju's surprise Kaien's own hand had shot up like lightning only to catch the fist that had come sailing for his nose. They'd all been wide-eyed, and funnily enough so had Kaien. He'd just stood there gawking at his own hand, before Ichigo withdrew his own fist.

'You're right Kaien, I am a madman. But, you couldn't have done what you just did ten days ago now could you?' That had effectively shut up Kaien, either due to his own wonder or Ichigo's words, and Ichigo had turned on his feet then and left, calling over his shoulder that breakfast was on the table. Kaien had stood there for a few more moments in shock, before Ichigo's words about breakfast seemed to register, and he'd practically sprinted in the shinigami's wake. Within the next moment they'd watched as Kaien darted out after Ichigo, and proceeded to devour practically everything at the breakfast table as if he hadn't eaten in days.

Neither would spill the beans on what they'd done out in the forest though despite all the questions they asked.

Now, here they both stood. Ichigo stood a few feet away from Kaien, and her big brother stood unarmed and practicing his hakuda forms and strikes that Ichi-ji had told him to run through. She strained her ears trying to listen to the shinigami's critiquing, but Ganju's humming was interfering.

She looked over at her little brother and flicked him on the ear, "Quiet down Ganju, I'm trying to listen to what they're saying."

Ganju perked up and looked over at her, "But nee-san, they aren't even fighting. This is boring."

Kukaku shook her head, "I'm not telling you to listen to them. I'm just telling you to stop humming so I can."

Ganju frowned but nodded, and he went back to stuffing his face with a rice cake. He didn't continue his annoying humming though. Appeased, Kukaku looked back into the yard to watch Kaien learn the different martial arts strikes.

Perhaps, if she paid attention she could pick up a few things, and use them to beat up Ganju when he pissed her off.

* * *

><p>Ichigo stood apart from his student as he watched Kaien show him all that he knew when it came to hakuda. Similar to his zanjutsu and kido, Kaien had some basic training in the art of hand to hand and martial arts. Ichigo wasn't surprised. Most noble clans made sure that their prominent members had some training, if only to defend against assassination attempts. Kaien was in line to become the next clan head of one of the five major noble families. It stood to reason that he'd have some training.<p>

His training wasn't any good though.

Ichigo shook his head, "Stop stop…alright look at me Kaien."

Kaien deflated and dropped out of his open palmed stance, looking sullen. Ichigo kind of felt bad for the kid. He could tell that Kaien was a lot like himself, or at least like him when he was younger.

"Hey, don't look like that. It was good for someone with barely any training. We'll fix this Kaien, we have plenty of time after all."

Kaien perked up a little and then nodded, just because he didn't really have a clue right now didn't mean it would stay that way. After what Ichigo had put him through for ten days, he was certain that Ichigo could help him. No matter how ridiculous and insane it had been, he could see improvement even now in his zanjutsu and kido alone.

"Now listen to me Kaien, what do you know of hakuda? Give me your best explanation."

Kaien floundered for a moment, trying to remember what his instructor from the Shiba main compound had told him years ago. He couldn't remember what was said, so he just summed it up as best he could.

"Uh…hakuda is a martial arts form that is taught to shinigami at the academy. It's a mixture of several martial art forms all mashed together seamlessly to be used in hand to hand combat when…you're either disarmed or uh fighting without a zanpakuto."

Ichigo nodded and then enquired again, "That's basically right, now what do you know of the different styles?"

"Uh…styles?"

"…you don't know anything about the two styles?"

"No, I…my instructor from before just taught our class a few of the stances and moves, then had us drill in them for weeks on end. Not much more than that. He barely explained anything either."

Ichigo felt like face faulting, but didn't. Wow. His teacher from before must have been an idiot. Although, he wasn't that surprised. The teacher sounded a lot like those fools at the academy. He'd heard stories about the academy teachers who were much the same. The academy taught a stringent and unchanging curriculum that wasn't diverse or allowed uniqueness in anyway in its teachings. It hadn't even adapted at all over the past who knows how many centuries. Most graduates only really learned to fight in a way that wouldn't result in their death by gaining personal experience after joining a division. It was kind of similar to how he was teaching Kaien. Take what you've learned in the classroom and during instruction, and then let your experiences mold how you fight from then on. Kaien had been using his linear predicable strikes at the beginning of the ten days, and by the end was practically using a completely new fighting style against Ichigo all gained from real combat and adaptation.

It looked like he'd have to start from the ground up with hakuda though. He wouldn't do this traditionally of course, it was always better to develop your own style as opposed to using one that could be recognized and countered, but he'd still make sure to teach Kaien the important things he needed to know before jumping into it.

Ichigo sighed in exasperation, "Alright fine, I'll explain it to you Kaien. Sit down and listen."

Kaien plopped down on the grass, and watched with eager eyes. Ichigo held up two fingers, and then began his explanation.

"Okay, there are two styles to hakuda that are prominent within the Gotei 13. One is the hard style which is also called the external style. The 11th division likes using it a lot, and it's as you'd imagine it to be. You use fast strikes backed by explosive force to try and overwhelm your opponents. In this style there is little to no defense. When it is executed correctly, your offense is so overwhelming that it quite literally becomes your defense. When you are attacked you either block with a guard or with your own strike, or you come at them at an angle, disrupting their attack while landing one of your own. It's far more straight forward, and employs a combination of brute force and reiatsu empowered strikes…are you following me?"

Kaien nodded from his spot on the ground, but asked a question, "What do you mean by reiatsu empowered strikes? That was never mentioned to me before."

Ichigo responded by raising his fists for Kaien to see, and then his student started in surprise when a second later both fists were covered in Ichigo's trademark black reiatsu. The ebony flame danced across his knuckles and down to his wrists as Ichigo answered, "When trying to use a reiatsu empowered strike, you flow your reiatsu down your arms and then to your fists, and you can even do it with your legs. It's a similar concept to gathering reiatsu for kido, except that instead of trying to shape and form it into a spell you just pump it into your fists. As you'd expect, this adds strength and impact to your strikes, however you can only do this for a short time." Ichigo drew the reiatsu back into him, and the black fire vanished, "If you don't use it in a strike after gathering it, then it becomes unstable like a kido spell, and can blow up in your face."

Kaien nodded with interest plastered across his face, and Ichigo continued.

"The second style is called soft style or the internal style. It's practically the polar opposite of the external style. It is far more fluid, and the Onmitsukido are the main practitioners of this style. It deals with misdirection, faints, and directing your opponent's force in the way you want it to. Soft style practitioners know that you are only as strong as your weakest link, and that that idea carries over to the body as well. You use your opponent's strength against them, and use pinpoint accuracy to off-balance them and then strike at those 'weak links' or key weak points on your opponent. Such weak points are areas like the neck, the joints of limbs, the groin, the core, and zones on the face like the eyes or nose. In this style, instead of focusing all of your force into your forward movement and fists or legs, you spread it throughout yourself equally."

Ichigo was willing to admit that he used to be one of those that used external style hakuda (or at least his own version of fighting that shared striking similarities), and while it was still a strong style, he'd learned that the soft style seemed to always reap better results such as far fewer injuries. There was a reason that the Onmitsukido was known as the division with all of the premier masters of hakuda. It was because they used the soft style of hakuda. Back in his younger years he always charged in fist swinging against the bands of thugs in his hometown, and sure he always managed to win, but he also got punched fairly often in the process. Not so much now. When he'd fought that captain a few days ago they both had used soft style, and Ichigo had flowed around his strikes like water, only to strike with pinpoint accuracy at his ears and then his knee joint.

Ichigo paused to make sure that Kaien had understood what he'd just explained before he finished.

"The culmination and combination of the two is what makes up the overarching form of combat known as hakuda. There is a wide spectrum within hakuda, and every fighter is different. They find themselves on different points of the spectrum depending on their tendencies, and what they're comfortable with. One extreme is someone who uses exclusively external, and like a berserker just powers through their fights making no attempt to protect themselves, while the other extreme of internal is someone who is always on the retreat but also never gets hit. They only strike at the most opportune moment. Most people tend to stay in the middle, balancing between attacking relentlessly and blocking, to dodging and using precision when they see the chance. You just need to find where you belong on the spectrum and then practice that."

Kaien's eyes lit up in comprehension, before he enquired, "Which of the two are you going to teach me first?"

Ichigo paused in consideration for a moment, allowing himself to be briefly amused by Kukaku's own interest across the yard, before he answered, "Well you're obviously going to learn both eventually, and it's always a good thing to have several styles under your belt to be prepared for any situation. For now though, we're going to learn the external style, starting on learning the offensive first is better than starting with the defensive in my mind. Plus, practicing reiatsu strikes will help you increase your reiryoku levels. Now get up, I'm going to teach you some of the forms, before we move onto the next step."

Kaien jumped to his feet, eager to get started, but then faltered, "Uh, what's the next step in training?"

Ichigo grinned sadistically.

"What do _you_ think?"

* * *

><p>It was nighttime when Kaien stumbled over to the porch, and collapsed face down onto the wood. Kukaku had to scoot over to make room, and Ganju sat up as well to look at his brother.<p>

"Ichi-ji really beat you up again Kaien-nii."

Kaien didn't reply to his little brother, and instead whimpered for a second followed by a low and long whine of pain. It sounded like a dying animal.

They'd been doing this for three days now, always staying until long after the sun had gone down. Ichigo would spent a few hours in the morning teaching him new strikes and kicks to add to his growing arsenal, and then they would spar for hours on end until he collapsed. Ichigo would force him to remember, and actually attack with the newest forms and strikes he'd learned, and every time he'd mess it up they'd stop and then practice the move for a few minutes before going at it again. At the end of every day, after wearing Kaien out with sparring for ungodly amounts of time, Ichigo would make him practice the strikes over and over again in repetition into the air to cement them in his head.

He was absolutely destroyed physically. He was sore from his torn muscles, and from the countless growing bruises he was gaining from being hit by Ichigo over and over again in their spars. As it stood though, he was actually happy now that Ichigo had taken him out for ten days. Sure, it had been absolute hell and he wouldn't want to do it again, but he could see now that his fighting ability had really been jumpstarted. If he hadn't gone out there then he probably would have been hit twice as much during their spars.

"Maybe you should try dodging his attacks next time Kaien-nii."

Kaien whimpered again.

"I can't Kukaku. He won't let me."

It was true. Ichigo wouldn't let him dodge. Every time he did, then his teacher would just send his fist straight into Kaien at a speed that was absolutely unavoidable. He used pain as a means to help Kaien break the habit. The style was designed around not actively dodging (that was internal), but rather using blocks and powering through the attacks with your own overwhelming attack. They were learning to two extremes of the spectrum before Ichigo would let him combine them together.

Ichigo came up behind him, and kicked him in the leg.

"Oh stop your whining Kaien. You sound like a dying ferret. Get inside and get to bed. We're training again tomorrow, and I'm not going to go easy on you just because you're tired."

Kaien turned his head slowly and scowled up at his teacher, "You're absolutely evil."

Ichigo coughed for a second to hold back his laugh, and then chuckled lightly instead, "You brought it on yourself kid, and as soon as you want to quit just tell me."

Kaien sat up scowling even harder, "I'm not going to quit! And don't call me a kid! I'm one hundred and fourteen!"

Ichigo seemed to freeze where he stood, his expression included, making Kaien wonder if he'd maybe said something wrong before Ichigo seemed to unfreeze, and answered in a stilted tone.

"I know you won't quit Kaien…and if you try to quit then I'll kick your ass. Now go get some sleep, and you two go with him. It's way too late for the both of you to still be awake."

Kaien agreed with Ichigo, and got up to take them inside. Kukaku pouted, and Ganju grumbled inaudibly, but neither put up an argument. They left with two subdued 'yes Ichi-ji.'

Ichigo was left alone in the nighttime yard a few seconds later, and he turned to look out over the yard and gazed at the moon in the distance. All was quiet for a time.

"One hundred and fourteen eh?" Ichigo whispered to the surrounding darkness.

He didn't say anything more for a few minutes, and the yard was relatively silent again save for the sounds of the local wildlife. Eventually he spoke up again, still quiet and sounding almost subdued…resigned.

"Why me?"

* * *

><p>Ichigo sat in the study by himself this time, and he had no tea to accompany his silent brooding. The two retainers had gone to sleep hours ago along with the rest of the household, and it wasn't like he'd told anyone that he was going to be kept awake all night by his own burning misery.<p>

Over the past couple weeks he'd gotten very adept at just _not thinking_ about his situation. It was how he coped with being alone, and lost in the afterlife five hundred years off the mark. He'd go for entire lengths of time simply occupying himself with training Kaien or relaxing with the younger kids, using them as a distraction from the shitstorm that his life had become. Trying his hardest to just forget how _wrong_ everything felt. He didn't like thinking about it, but sometimes he'd get an out-of-nowhere reminder like the one from tonight that would make ignoring it impossible, and made him want nothing more than to go up to the Soul King, punch him, and just beg him for answers.

Why couldn't the Soul King just _do_ something? Why was it left up to him? A 26 year old _human_ was the only hope for the afterlife, and he was now training people that looked like teens when they were 114? You had to be kidding, how did _that_ make any sense? It wasn't right, and Kisuke had even admitted it countless times over the years. A decade ago he'd been all for jumping right into the spiritual world head first, for no other reason than to protect Rukia and his friends. Now though? It seemed like the shinigami were all depending on him to protect them all the damn time. _They_ were the protectors of the afterlife. _They_ were the ones who went to the freaking academy for this type of stuff. He had just been a 16 year old kid stuck with fixing all of their messes.

He'd had his childhood stolen…No, his entire life stolen away because of their damn incompetence.

He was willing to admit that he resented them a little for that. In retrospect he was willing to ask things like 'why didn't the captains just all unleash their bankai together at the beginning and end the war? Why couldn't they have all just rushed Aizen bankai swinging, instead of some stupid one-on-one fighting in bloody shikai?'

He knew why of course. Their damn code of honor and their pride meant that captains wouldn't unleash their bankai for practically any reason. It was stupid and arrogant, but that's how they thought, and Ichigo felt justified in resenting them for that. Not to mention at the start the entire Gotei 13 had viewed Aizen's uprising as a little stunt that could easily be put down, Kyoka Suigetsu or not.

Then Aizen had shown up with his army of arrancar, and the very world had burned.

It was selfish of them. They went off and died on him, without so much as a by your leave, leaving it all up to him to save the world. Why couldn't they have just stayed alive?

_Why did they have to leave him alone like this?_

"O-oh uh…I didn't know you were still awake."

Ichigo almost jumped clean out of his seat.

Damn it, he'd gotten so caught up that even with his sharp senses he hadn't noticed Kaien come into the study. He gave no outward sign of his alarm though, and he glanced over at his student, hovering awkwardly behind the chair next to him, and motioned for him to join him.

He needed the distraction anyway.

"You did well today Kaien. Give me a few more days of good sparring like this one, and I'll start teaching you reiatsu enhanced strikes." Kaien smiled and nodded from where he stood, but didn't move to reply. Kaien stepped around and settled into the seat beside him, and they fell into what was for Ichigo a companionable silence.

"Why are you in here anyway? I thought you'd already gone to sleep," Ichigo enquired abruptly, although he didn't really care all that much if his student stayed up late. He'd still beat him into the ground regardless of how tired Kaien was. It would be the kid's fault anyway.

"I could ask you the same thing," Kaien answered back lightly, though there was something in his tone that Ichigo couldn't quite identify. Plus, he knew a deflection when he saw one. Attention successfully grabbed, Ichigo slowly began to notice that Kaien wasn't quite as comfortable as Ichigo was. He looked tense, almost as if he wanted to ask something but was hesitant.

Well, Ichigo had never been one for hesitation. He had always been known to be painfully blunt in social settings. It was no wonder he didn't get along well with nobles.

"What wrong with you? Spit it out."

Kaien eyebrows rose, and he opened and closed his mouth silently stuttering for a few moments before he snapped it shut again, and looked away into the dark study. "It's nothing," he dismissed quickly, looking like he really wanted to talk about something else.

"It's not nothing. Don't lie to me kid, it doesn't suit you," Ichigo countered, and it was kind of funny to him that he was chiding someone close to one hundred years older than him. Kaien suddenly scowled in a way that reminded Ichigo of himself in the most ridiculous way, and his student shot back at him, "I told you, I'm not a kid."

Ichigo was seconds from rolling his eyes, "You're acting like one now, and if you don't tell me what's wrong with you then I'll keep calling you one." Kaien shook his head and sighed, but stopped to think for a few moments. He still looked hesitant, but eventually he asked his question.

"You said before that we were similar right?" Ichigo nodded, "You said that you have people that you want to protect as well yes?" Again, Ichigo nodded.

"Well…why aren't you with them now then? If you want to protect them so much then why are you staying here to train me?"

Oh.

That's what he wanted to ask. Now Ichigo wished he hadn't pushed him.

Internally, he fumbled for a second without showing it, but then his face settled into a glower. The truth would work, no matter how many more questions it would give rise to. It wasn't like he was required to answer then anyway.

"They're dead Kaien."

Kaien's mouth slammed shut, and his head spun to stare at Ichigo with wide eyes.

"Yo-you…what? What do you…?"

If it was possible, Ichigo's face became even more closed off, his features settling into a grim mask of stone.

"They died some time ago. That's why I've been wandering, and that's another reason why I decided to help you. So your people don't share the same fate."

His mood was really ruined now, and what had once been a companionable silence suddenly became stilted and awkward. He'd had enough of this. He rose abruptly, somewhat startling the already reeling Kaien. Maybe it was time to go to bed after all.

"Get some sleep Kaien, and don't worry yourself with me. I'll see you in the morning."

Ichigo wasn't afraid to admit it. He fled the room, tail between his legs. Sure, he didn't do closed-off hide-your-true-thoughts social settings, but too much emotion at once wasn't really his thing either.

* * *

><p><em>The city of Karakura shuttered and burned around him. Whole city blocks had been obliterated, leaving scorched craters and cracked streets in their places. Buildings collapsed as their supports burned through, the firefighters having already lost their lives some time ago, leaving the city defenseless against the rapidly spreading inferno. The horrific stench of smoke and burning corpses rose high into the air, high enough for Ichigo to smell it. Thousands of hollows swarmed and tore through the streets, devouring what was left of the population of humans as they ran for their lives, screaming at the invisible apocalypse that had descended on their innocent town. The majority of the poor human souls that had once lived there had already been absorbed in…whatever the fuck Aizen had done when he'd first shown up. All Ichigo had seen was a huge flash of purple light when the traitor had made his entrance into the city.<em>

_Ichigo blasted through the skies, desperate to get to his home where he could sense his father already fighting. _

'_How the hell has this happened?!' Ichigo screamed in his mind. Kisuke and Hachi had sealed Karakura away within a pocket dimension with kido! It was supposed to have saved it from Aizen! But now he could sense the mad-man across the city, annihilating the downtown portion of Karakura. He couldn't deal with the bastard now though. He needed to get home! _

_He needed to find his sisters._

_He shunpoed as fast as he possibly could toward Isshin's location by their house, and in the distance he could see his father blasting getsugas in every which way laying waste to the hollow army after him, while simultaneously destroying their entire neighborhood. _

_Ichigo came skidding to a stop before his father already swinging his katana to tear through a hollow coming at goat-face from the side. It screeched before being blasted away from the force of the strike, and Ichigo got a full view of how his father was faring._

_Goat-face stood tall covered head to toe in ash, and bleeding from numerous gashes, but other than that he seemed to be faring well. His regular shinigami shihakusho was torn in several places though, and his white captain's haori that he used to have strapped to his upper arm had been lost in the chaos. _

_Ichigo panicked when he couldn't sense his little sisters anywhere in the vicinity even after getting close to their home. _

"_Dad!" Ichigo screamed through the blasting, deafening cataclysm, "Where the hell are Karin and Yuzu!?"_

_Isshin spun on his feet to intercept another hollow, tearing his blade through its gaping maw as it lunged to bite him. He followed it up with another bright blue getsuga tensho into the surrounding crowd to give them both some breathing room for a few moments. In the ensuing quiet, he answered his son through his labored breathing. _

"_Ryuken has them, and they already left town a few days ago before the town was sealed. We couldn't get the news to you since you were in Hueco Mundo, but they're safe right now. I've stayed behind to tend to the wounded that have holed up in Urahara's shop down the road, and since Ryuken is gone, I'm the only one left that is qualified to look after them."_

_Ichigo felt a huge weight lift off of him with the news that his sisters were okay, and he jumped to stand back-to-back with his father to help fend off the hollow army that was after both of their heads. It looked like Aizen had sent a special contingent of his forces just to focus on his home and family. This part of town was undoubtedly the worst off when it came to pure destruction. _

_He'd kill Aizen in the most brutal way possible just for threatening his family in such a way, even if his sisters had managed to escape. _

_They both slashed and stabbed anything that came within range, Isshin blasting hollows away with his shikai's getsuga tensho, and Ichigo tearing them apart with ceros, balas, and his two sealed blades. _

_Slowly though, it became apparent that the army of hollows wasn't going to be letting up anytime soon. It stretched as far as the eye could see down every street of their neighborhood. Whenever one would fall another would take its place, and even though they were keeping up for the time being, they seriously needed to leave or else risk being overwhelmed by the sheer number of enemies._

_Ichigo came up with a plan then, and made up his mind just as quickly. _

"_Brace yourself Oyaji!"_

_Isshin looked back to see what his son was doing, and then cursed when he realized Ichigo's plan. The former captain starting pushing out his reiatsu in waves in preparation for the torrential storm that he knew was about to be unleashed._

_Ichigo fired one more crimson cero into the approaching hollows to give himself some room, and then he thrust his swords into the air before him, crossing his right wrist over his left._

_Ichigo gathered his reiatsu in preparation, and shouted for all he was worth, "Tear the skies asunder! Zangetsu!"_

_Then the world exploded. _

_A maelstrom of pure black reiatsu blasted out of Ichigo, climbing high into the sky, and completely obliterating the hollows advancing on them for several hundred meters in a wide reaching circle. It kept violently ripping from him in pulses making his shoulders visibly shake, and what was left of their neighborhood along with their home crumbled and was ground to dust under its weight. _

_Seconds later it disappeared as it reached transcendence, all trace of the pressure vanishing from anyone's senses, however the excess black reiatsu still clung to the ground in wisps resembling dancing black flame. The area around their home fell relatively silent without any hollows surrounding them, and the buildings that had been on fire were now crushed and extinguished. _

_Ichigo stood up straight, rolling his shoulders as he did, and hefted the hulking pitch-black khyber knife onto his shoulder even as he let his shorter blade dangle in his other relaxed arm. Black wisps of reiatsu still clung to the blades as well, not quite ready to fall under Ichigo's control just yet. Isshin heaved a sigh of relief at the ridiculous weight of his son's reiatsu finally relenting. However, that relief didn't last for long. _

_Already, a new wave of hollows was growing in the distance to replace the recently vaporized one, and the masses of mindless beasts were starting to approach again albeit with a lot more caution. Without hesitation Ichigo turned and tore open a garganta for the two of them to escape through, and he was about to turn to beckon his father to follow before he felt it._

_What had been a narrow buzzing on the edge of his senses suddenly spiked, and he sensed __**him**__ coming across the horizon, tearing through the skies toward the explosion of reiatsu that had come from Ichigo. Aizen had found him, and Ichigo could feel the presence of the hogyoku that was with the traitor as the madman approached with staggering speed. He gripped his swords tightly as his anger got the better of him, and then decided that if the bastard wanted to have a go at him and his family, then Ichigo would repay him in kind right then and there. _

_He turned to tell his father to get in the garganta, and to leave Aizen to him, but as soon as he fully turned, out of nowhere a fist came slamming into his face with staggering strength. He stumbled for a few seconds, but that was all Isshin needed. _

"_Bakudo 61: Rikujokoro!"_

_Abruptly, six rods of pure light materialized in the air and slammed into Ichigo's midsection._

"_Bakudo 9: Horin!" _

_A golden tendril of power shot from Isshin's hands, and proceeded to tangle and trap the still stunned Ichigo. Seconds later, Isshin shunpoed forward to scoop the doubly bound Ichigo into his arms, and dumped him into the gaping maw of the garganta. _

_Ichigo shook off the pain of the punch, and finally managed to strangle out a question with the random and ridiculous turn-about. _

"_W-what the fuck?! Dad, what the hell are you doing?!"_

_Isshin turned away, but answered just the same, even as the hollows were slowly growing closer, and looked to be building up the courage to attack again at that. _

"_Once upon a time," he answered quietly as he raised his sword, and the shrieks of the hollows grew louder at the perceived challenge, "I asked a beautiful woman why she had saved my life, and she answered 'If someone died because I did nothing, I don't think I'd be able to forgive myself for it.'"_

_The hollows started picking up the pace from their slow going approach, and actually started walking instead of crawling toward the ex-shinigami captain and the garganta. Isshin continued speaking in the same quiet voice, even as he felt Aizen several dozen blocks away. _

"_I…I don't think I can either Ichigo. I won't run. There are still living injured humans in the Shoten, and within the city, all running, terrified, and helpless. Even though I may be a shinigami, I'm also a doctor…and I can't just leave them to their fates, and while I know I may not be able to save any of them now…" he turned to look at Ichigo then, and ridiculously enough he had that damn goofy grin etched on his face, "I can still save you, my only son."_

_He looked away again, examining the now faster approaching ranks of hollows. They had reached a distance of one hundred yards away, and he ignored the pleading and yelling of his son._

"_I know what you were planning son, and right now you can't face Aizen. He'll kill you. You aren't strong enough to take him down just yet, and I won't let you waste your life here in vain. If I don't tie you up like the unruly child you are and toss you out, then there's no way you would leave, and we don't have the time to argue either. If you died here today then Masaki would never forgive me, so suck it up."_

_Isshin paused, growing quiet again for a few seconds, before he continued in a more strained voice, sounding almost tired, "I'm proud of you son, and I'm sure that where ever Masaki is now, she is feeling the same, and is just as proud of you as I am."_

_Ichigo kept desperately, despairingly pleading with Isshin to release the bindings. He was practically screaming at his father, and his soul felt like it was about to be torn apart. He desperately ripped at the kido with his reiatsu, but he knew that double bindings like these couldn't simply be undone with pure brute force like Bakudo 1: Sai. They had to be focused on, examined, and felt out, before you unraveled it slowly with your own reiatsu at its weak points. The captains, some of their lieutenants, and those with an expertise in kido could have gotten out of them in seconds, but Ichigo was still only a beginner in the art, and had only just started taking lessons from Hachi in his spare time. It would take too long to break free on his own, and he could almost see Aizen down the street…or at least he thought it was Aizen._

_Were those butterfly wings?_

_Isshin looked back again still fucking smiling, "I know I may not have been the best parent to you over the years, but I do love you, and I am so very very proud of you…you're the best son a father could ever ask for," Isshin threw up a thumbs up, and his tone became that jovial and obnoxious voice that Ichigo knew so well, "Since I'll be gone please look after your little sisters for me, and make sure they don't miss their dear old daddy too much!"_

_With that he blasted the garganta with a byakurai, un-stabilizing it enough for it to snap shut. _

_The last thing Ichigo saw before it slammed shut in his face was his father's bloody visage and his goofy grin, a thumbs up, Aizen who looked like a white monstrosity with butterfly wings charging some sort of purple blast in his hands, an ocean of hollows sprinting for his father's still turned back, and then all at once the darkness enveloped him._

_Several seconds later, the space before Ichigo suddenly shifted and bulged outward, almost appearing as if the very fabric of time and space was being forcefully slammed causing it to shake and reverberate. Ichigo could feel the magnitude of the explosion that he had just escaped even from inside the garganta, and he knew that there was no way that anyone, save himself, could have survived that. _

_Ichigo blinked for several seconds, and nothing came out of his still open mouth. He couldn't process what had just happened. Silent tears abruptly fell from his wide eyes as he stared at the black oblivion before him in complete disbelief. _

_It remained quiet in the garganta for a long time after that, and Ichigo didn't even attempt to undo the bakudo that had bound him. He'd forgotten they were even there. He didn't notice the time pass, and he didn't notice how his control on his reiatsu was slipping making the platform he was lying on crack and become unsteady. He barely even noticed his own tears. _

_Eventually, his fists slowly unclenched, and he curled himself up as best he could with his bindings still restricting him. His forehead touched the cold surface of the platform, and his shoulders shook as he quietly wept in the enclosing darkness._

"…_dad…"_

_Ichigo lost another._

* * *

><p>Ichigo awoke to the early morning light, but there was no alarmed jumping or drawing of swords to accompany it. He lay there in his bed blinking up at the ceiling above him, unwilling to stir, and unwilling to wipe the tears that he had shed even in his sleep. His heart felt like lead, pinning him down, and keeping him from gathering the motivation to even try.<p>

God, he wanted this over and done with already.

Slowly, his face contorted, and it settled into that mask of misery that used to always alarm his friends. Every time someone like Shinji or Shunsui saw the expression he now wore they would always take him aside, and have a sit down with him just to make sure he hadn't been broken completely by Aizen or the war yet. They had known that someone young like him who was completely new to the horrors of war, and someone who had seen so many people die, some who were his own friends and family…they knew it wouldn't take much to send him off the deep end.

They weren't here to help him anymore though, and he'd probably gone off the deep end a long time ago anyway.

He could feel it again, and now after having just woken from another of his dreams the feeling was even stronger than normal. Buried under all of his misery, and hidden beneath all of his pain was something that he was starting to recognize. On any given day the feeling just festered, lying in wait, but not today. Today it had reared its ugly head right at the start, and Ichigo couldn't help but give it a name.

Hate.

The dreams were a constant, albeit separated by nights at a time, and they had been happening for years now. They certainly helped enflame the feeling, but they weren't the real issue. They were just reminders, his subconscious never letting him forget his own failures. Never letting him forget everything he'd lost. It was the memories he had of the actual events that always gave rise to this feeling. They were what made him feel so much hate in his heart.

Hate for Aizen, hate for the war, and hate for himself.

Now that he was isolated in the past as he was, he could identify it to himself. Before, when he had others around him depending on him, people around him that constantly needed protecting, he hadn't dared acknowledge the feeling. He'd pushed it away, because he knew that if he fell into its pull then he'd be lost to them forever. He wouldn't be the same Ichigo that they all knew and depended on.

Now though, they weren't there to hold him accountable, and they weren't there for him to put on a brave face for.

Now that he was alone, constantly surrounded by one big reminder of all of his failures, there was nothing stopping him from being utterly consumed by his hate.

500 years was a long time to feel like this.

Did he actually want that? Could he even stop it if he wanted to?

His world was a different place now, and for once he was really alone. That was new for him. Even at the end he'd still had Kisuke, broken though he might have been. Now there was really nothing for him. He had 500 years ahead of him all culminating in him killing Aizen, and then saving soul society, followed by…what? What lay beyond that for _him_?

He had his reasons, and he'd still do it of course. He'd be doing it to save the world, and to prevent the death of his once-upon-a-time friends. He owed it to the memory of the ones he'd known to at least save these younger versions from their fates.

He wouldn't get anything out of it though. All that talk about him reforming his friendships, sure it sounded nice, but would it even really happen? Kisuke had been right of course, as he always was. They wouldn't be his people, and they probably wouldn't be his ever again, and definitely not to the degree that they'd had been when fighting a war together.

There would probably be another Ichigo around sometime in the future, and all of his old friends like Ishida, Orihime, or Chad and Tatsuki would be friends with that Ichigo. He wouldn't allow himself to butt into that kid's life out of his own pathetic desire to have his friends back. He'd force himself to be content with them just being alive again, and with an Ichigo there to look after him. When it came down to it he didn't really have a choice.

He probably would never be able to show his face around his own family without a lot of questions going unanswered. Not to mention a new Ichigo would be there, and that all of them would be entirely new people since he fully intended to save Masaki's life. The continued living of his mother would undoubtedly change how each of the family members were drastically. Most especially Karin and Yuzu.

He doubted he'd ever be able to grow close to the captains or their lieutenants again. He wasn't going to be that charismatic 16 year old human kid they'd met the first time around. He'd be a battle hardened and generally broken down 500 and something year old. Not to mention a Visored, and by then he'd be the one who'd been sneaking around them for 500 years. They wouldn't trust him. Sure they hadn't trusted him the first time around either, but over time they'd all grown close. This time around there wouldn't be any wars to cement their bonds.

Just one day was all they'd have. One day to watch as he slaughtered Aizen on Sokyoku Hill.

Rukia and Renji would be lost to him, either by their affiliation with the Gotei 13, or by their ties to this timeline's Ichigo, and Kaien for that matter. He wouldn't make waves.

The _only_ people he could actually imagine regaining the friendships of would be the Visored and the other exiles, and even then the entire dynamic of their friendships would change. He'd be the teacher then, and they'd all be his students instead of the other way around. Plus, that all depended on them even letting him be their teacher in the first place.

He honestly didn't even know how he was going to handle Kisuke, especially since he fully intended to punch him straight in the mouth as soon as he was alone with the crazy scientist. He didn't want to have to start over on breaking the outlandish bastard of all of his bad habits, like being illusive or being annoying in every other way he'd mastered. Getting the scientist to trust him again in the first place would be…difficult.

He was done with this. Christ…he was just done in general.

Ichigo reached up and finally wiped away his tears. He was exhausted in a way that he hadn't felt in a month. The thought of his father, and his family in general always made him feel horrible. He kicked off his blankets and stood up, and as soon as he straightened he got hit with a wave of weakness in his limbs. It was so strong that he wavered, and almost fell back down onto the bed.

When was the last time he'd eaten? Yesterday? The day before?

He couldn't remember when he'd last sat down for an actual meal. He didn't like eating with the others, since it would mean that he'd have to _participate in conversation_. He normally just grabbed some stuff that was lying around and ate in his room. The others surprisingly respected his privacy in a very un-Shiba like way. He blamed it on Kukaku not being fully grown yet, or else she would have dragged him around and demanded that he join in on everything they did.

Ichigo shook himself to throw off the rest of the grief that was smothering him, and he put on a brave face to better combat the day. He needed to…get out. Just go somewhere. Get away for a while. He'd been training Kaien for about two weeks now if you included the ten-day-death-match-over-a-hat, and he could let him have a break for the day. It wasn't like there were any impending executions of a short black haired noble on the horizon that needed to be stopped.

Ichigo straightened himself out, and grabbed his swords. As an afterthought, he threw on his hood. Best to not let the others see that he'd been crying. He left his room, cancelling the kido he'd put up again, and headed for the kitchen to grab a little something to eat before he bailed on them. If he was lucky then he wouldn't run into any of them in the first place, and he could just escape after leaving a note on the table.

It was just his luck when in the next second he sensed Kaien in the kitchen. Ichigo shook his head at that, why did he expect anything else? Of course Kaien was going to be in the kitchen.

Sometimes he wondered if his life was just one big running joke to the Soul King.

So much for sneaking away. He was hungry though, so he'd just have to suck it up. He entered the kitchen and there Kaien was, eating breakfast with a towel around his neck, and not turning when Ichigo came in from a side door. No doubt getting ready for another day of training. Good, he was glad that his first student ever was at least diligent.

"I'm leaving for the day Kaien, have fun with the kids, and take today off," he called to his sitting student from across the kitchen.

He busied himself with grabbing a few tidbits of fruit lying on the counter, and appeared to ignore how his student almost fell out of his seat when Ichigo spoke. Looks like they'd have to work on reiatsu sensing too, since Kaien hadn't even noticed him come in.

Kaien recovered and stood up from his seat to turn to Ichigo, food apparently forgotten. Out of the corner of his eye Ichigo could see the awkward expression on the kid's face. Ichigo idly wondered why he was awkward in his presence twice in a row, and he hoped there wouldn't be any more…_questions_.

Kaien spoke up then, and Ichigo almost choked on the apple slice he just ate.

"Sorry Ichigo…about last night I-I…I didn't mean to…it was none of my business, and I didn't mean to upset you."

Ichigo seriously felt like face-palming. Dammit.

Just when he'd gotten distracted, the kid had to go and remind him within a minute.

Eh, well it wasn't the kid's fault he supposed. Just being a Shiba, or whatever.

"I told you Kaien, don't worry yourself with me. I'm not upset with you. Now did you hear what I said?" Ichigo asked while brushing past Kaien's concerns. He really didn't want to think about it.

Kaien looked relieved at his dismissal, and nodded, "Yeah I heard you, so no training for the day huh? You won't hear me argue, but uhhh…where are you going? Is something wrong?"

Ichigo almost rolled his eyes, typical Shiba, always so concerned with the wellbeing of others. He turned and looked at Kaien, and just stared at him for a couple of seconds with his eyebrow cocked. Kaien started to squirm after a few moments under his hooded stare before he seemed to catch on.

"Ah…yeah…right. Don't worry myself with you. I got it. I guess I'll see you tonight then?"

Appeased, Ichigo nodded and turned away, "I'll be back tonight, but don't stay up waiting. Training will resume tomorrow, and since we missed a day it will be twice as bad. I don't want to hear any complaining."

"You won't hear anything from me."

Ichigo nodded and then headed for the front door, breezing out of it and out into the morning air. He'd head to the 78th again, and then open a garganta. He needed a break, and he'd heard that the sands of Hueco Mundo were nice this time of year.

* * *

><p>Silent steps left a trail of footprints in the sand as Ichigo trekked across the desert of Hueco Mundo. Nothing lay ahead of him, and nothing lay behind. All that he could see for miles on end was empty desert, and the moon illuminating its dead luster in a soft glow of pale light. It was ironic in a way, that a dead world was a comfort to Ichigo in place of a living happy one. It pained him to see the afterlife anymore. All it was to him was a false mirror image of the dead one he had known. It felt so wrong to him just to see the Seireitei anymore, even if it was far off on the horizon. The sights of the afterlife kept him from forgetting, and he doubted that he'd ever be at peace with his choice to go back. It may have been their only option, but that didn't mean it was the best option. It wasn't even a good option to begin with.<p>

Hueco Mundo was an escape. Nothing changed here, and it looked the same as it did back in his own timeline. There was nothing here to remind him that he'd gone back in time. If anything it made him feel like one quick garganta away would lead him to the Shoten in the human world with Kisuke there to greet him. His sisters a few blocks away, happy in a world that made sense, and goat face there right alongside them just waiting to be punched into a wall. It was a place that he could momentarily forget that he had been a total failure.

Hueco Mundo was the only place that his worries could actually fade into the back ground too. Where he could pretend everything was alright, and he didn't have to prepare for five centuries just to kill one mad man.

He was supposed to be in heaven. Soul society was meant to be a peaceful afterlife for all those who had died. So then why was he trapped in his own hell?

What a joke.

He could remember Rukia telling a young soul just before she performed konso that the child was going to heaven and that everything would be alright from then on. Rukia had a straight face on through the entire lie.

He didn't believe in heaven anymore. He'd had to learn the hard way that there was no such thing, and there never had been either. There was an afterlife, but there was no _heaven_. Not for him, and not for anyone.

Suddenly, Ichigo's senses alerted him to movement beneath his feet. He stilled and awaited whatever was about to burst out of the sand and interrupt his trek. Moments later the sand before him erupted several dozen meters away, and a hollow blasted out of the hole in the desert.

Ichigo looked up at the night sky for a moment. Why? Like really, why now? Why did he have to deal with small fry like this on his vacation? Or…whatever he was doing out here.

He sighed, and looked back at the poor beast that was about to meet its end.

It was admittedly large, but still smaller than some hollows he'd seen, and it was grotesque in its own unique way. It was long and centipede in nature, with razor sharp pincers jutting out of its bloated head. Madness and hate glowed in its beady eyes, and Ichigo watched it skitter across the sand around him circling him for a few moments before it finally spoke up it a quick grating tone.

"Ahhh…A shinigami…I can feel the power within you, but you are…weak. What are you doing in this world? Do you have a death wish you pathetic fool?"

Ichigo almost rolled his eyes, no doubt the hollow could barely sense him because he had his reiatsu under wraps. It was no wonder the idiot thought Ichigo was weak, and frankly he didn't want to put up with this right now.

"Leave me be hollow, I'm just passing though. If you don't then I'll kill you."

The hollow laughed then, or at least made a sound that passed as some sort of laugh, before answering.

"Bold words shinigami, but you wouldn't stand a chance against me! It has been a long time since I've tasted a shinigami. Perhaps you would indulge me by becoming my next snack!"

Ichigo sighed again. Seriously?

Ichigo braced himself for the hollow to lunge, but then had to throw himself back to avoid the tail end of the centipede that blasted out of the sand beneath his feet. The second set of pincers came chasing after him, and Ichigo had to use shunpo to avoid them. He flash stepped past the appendage and then had to dodge again as the hollow spat some sort of green liquid in his direction. He glanced back and watched for a moment as the sand slowly steamed and dissolved as the saliva melted clean through it.

It was acid then. Great. Now he'd really had enough of this.

He vanished then into a shunpo far beyond anything the hollow could follow, and his mouth quirked slightly in sardonic amusement when the hollow starting panicking when it couldn't find him. He came around and dropped down to slam his feet into the back of the hollows head smashing it into the sand below, before he slapped his open palm onto the carapace below him.

"Hado #33: Sokatsui!"

There was no cry of pain, or shout of anger from the hollow. It had no mouth anymore as it was. Its head was utterly obliterated, and the body slumped down to rest atop the super-heated glass that now replaced the sand. The blue flames of the kido still lingered on the surface of the desert, and they lined the ring that surrounded the center of the blast.

Ichigo shook his head, and for a moment felt pity for the poor retch that he'd slain. Not because he'd killed him, but because he'd become a hollow in the first place. The soul was free now he supposed, although in soul society which wasn't much of a comfort.

"_Ichigo,"_ Zangetsu suddenly called, _"I would speak with you."_

Ichigo hopped off of the now dead hollow, and landed on the cooled glass surface of the desert. The thin glass broke and shattered into hundreds of fragments beneath his feet, the miniscule particles kicking up and drifting away in the wind, and it kept cracking like a blanket of ice as he walked away from the corpse.

"Feel free to join me out here then."

The wakizashi at his waist melted into a flurry of black reiatsu. It flowed away from him like smoke to materialize as the cloaked old man he'd known for so long. He stood before Ichigo with his black clothing billowing in his own personal wind, and he gazed at Ichigo with that same look of concern that he'd grown so accustomed to. He knew there was no stopping Zangetsu from doing it, but he really didn't want that look, nor the talk that was about to take place.

"_Why have you returned here Ichigo? This is not where you belong."_

Ichigo exhaled a wordless grumble before turning away, he didn't want to talk about this right now, not even with Zangetsu.

"You know why I'm here Zangetsu. You shouldn't need to ask."

Zangetsu looked around at the surrounding sand and nodded his head, _"Indeed, I do know why you are here. However, that doesn't mean I shouldn't ask anyway."_

Ichigo huffed a small laugh before looking back, "And why is that?"

Zangetsu stopped appreciating their surroundings (he didn't get out much as it was), and turned to stare back at Ichigo with that look that always managed to make him want to shift uncomfortably. That deadpan look that made you feel stupid, or that the old man knew everything and was speaking with a 12 year old.

"_I believe you told your own student something a while ago. Something about you knowing his motivations from the start, but you asked him for them anyway. You made him say them aloud if only for him to hear them from his own mouth. I am here, asking you for much the same reasons." _Zangetsu drew his hand out from the shadow of his cloak and gestured toward the surrounding sands, "_Do you know why you are here Ichigo? Out here mindlessly wandering the desert instead of back there in the Soul Society?"_

Ichigo didn't like where this was going, and he glowered over at the old man with his best scowl. Zangetsu appeared entirely unruffled by his bad mood.

Ichigo grit his teeth, "Of course I do."

If Zangetsu were anyone else he probably would have rolled his eyes, _"Humor me then."_

Ichigo turned away and didn't answer him. They stood like that for several minutes, and Ichigo knew that nothing he did would sway the old man. Zangetsu was patient, and was perfectly capable of waiting him out. As it was it wasn't like he could avoid his spirit, and Zangetsu had always had the ability to make him face and come to terms with things he feared or didn't want to face, either about the world around him or himself.

He didn't want to do this though. He'd come out here to get away from thinking about it, or at least try to, but here Zangetsu was, actively attempting to make him think about it.

He drew in a breath and blew it out slowly to steady himself, best to get this over with, "…I'm running."

"_From_?"

Ichigo paused to consider that, and his eyes found the slowly decaying corpse of the hollow he'd slain. The spirit particles from the corpse were already starting to lift off of the dead centipede.

He knew what he was running from.

"Reality," Ichigo paused to take another breath before continuing, "Everything is just so _stifling_ now. I-I don't know how I'm going to live in this reality Zangetsu. I-"

He looked down at the broken glass beneath his feet, "We're nothing but misery and broken memories now. I don't know how I'm going to live for 500 years like that."

Zangetsu nodded behind him and then quietly asked, _"Are you afraid?"_

Ichigo's frown grew even further. Was he afraid? He knew the answer to that.

"…Yes, I am afraid."

"_What are you afraid of?"_

Ah, here we are. The very thing he really didn't want to talk about. The thing he was dreading. Zangetsu always made him acknowledge such things. He knew the answer to that too.

"I'm afraid of myself."

Zangetsu didn't have a follow-up question for that, but Ichigo got the impression that he was waiting for him to continue. Of course he was.

"I'm afraid of what I'm going to do," Ichigo looked down at his hands, "I'm afraid of what my pain will drive me to do. I'm afraid of what my hate will make me want to do. _I'm afraid of what 500 years of feeling like this will do to me_."

He looked over at the dead hollow again, and for a moment he felt a pang of jealousy. That hollow had no obligation to stay alive, and had no obligation to save the bloody world either.

"I'm not dead yet. I'm not a corpse Zangetsu, but I think…I think I'm still rotting, and I'm afraid of falling apart before I can make it to the end." Ichigo clenched his fist and looked up at the night sky. It was completely bare of stars. The moon was all that was left to illuminate the night.

"Nothing ever seems to go our way does it old man? First we lose the war, and now…this."

Zangetsu quietly came forward to stand next to him, and their shoulders brushed together as they stood side by side, gazing up at the starless night sky.

"_For us Ichigo, it would seem even the stars refuse to shine," _Zangetsu added quietly.

They stood there for a few moments longer before Zangetsu spoke up once more, _"What does that matter Ichigo? Our attack, the attack all three of us share, is named the getsuga tensho. The piercer of heaven, the fang of the moon. If the stars refuse to shine on us then we will tear the skies asunder in retribution. We will put out the light of the moon itself, and we shall live these coming years in utter darkness until our day comes."_

Zangetsu turned away to walk across the sands again, and Ichigo followed him with his eyes.

"_Until then, you must keep in mind what I have always said. Abandon your fear. Look forward. Move forward and never stop-"_

"-You'll age if you pull back. You'll die if you hesitate," Ichigo finished for him, and turned to face his spirit fully.

Zangetsu nodded, _"Indeed. Your fear of what is to come will only hold you back Ichigo. You will continue to feel this pain, for how long I cannot know, but that is something that you can't avoid. However, your fear is something that you can and must abandon. Do not fear yourself. I know you, and I know your core nature. Trust me when I say that you may feel so many things, hate, pain, misery, but you will not fall, and if nothing else I will be here by your side. You think there is no one left? That there is no one here to hold you accountable? You are wrong, and we __**will**__ make it through this together, just as we always have."_

Zangetsu turned back to him and there was something in his gaze that Ichigo hadn't seen in a long while, _"In the meantime, we must not remain stagnant. We may have come back in time, but time is still moving forward. Thus, we must move forward along with it. You taking on a student has…inspired me to do the same. I have decided to once more begin teaching you."_

Ichigo's eyes widened in confusion, and his mouth momentarily dropped open in surprise, "Wh-What are you? _Excuse me_?"

Zangetsu nodded, "_Yes Ichigo, we will resume your training_."

"B-But, I've learned everything you've told me. Are there more techniques for my zanpakuto?"

Zangetsu shook his head and answered, "_I do not know the answer to that, as I am not your true zanpakuto spirit. I doubt that there are any, but if there were then they are not mine to teach. No, I will be teaching you something…very different_."

Suddenly, Ichigo's hands clenched, and he reached down to rip his katana from its sheath. He blasted forward in shunpo to slam his blade against Zangetsu's own who had managed to hastily draw his wakizashi even in his surprise.

Their eyes met and Zangetsu was momentarily taken aback by the smoldering, burning inferno of rage he found in Ichigo's own gaze. The look was dark, almost feral, and shadows of pain and something else danced in Ichigo's slowly changing eyes. Zangetsu could already see the gold bleeding into the irises, draining the brown out of them.

In a quiet, quivering voice carrying an undertone of barely controlled wrath Ichigo spoke to the Quincy spirit over their locked blades.

"_I swear to God Zangetsu…I swear on all that is holy that if you've been holding out on me. If you held me back and didn't teach me something that could have…that could have saved my friends or helped kill Aizen…then I swear here and now…that I will fucking __**obliterate**__ you."_

Zangetsu's eyes widened further, and he darted away in hirenkyaku to create some distance between them. Ichigo remained where he left him even though he made no move to sheath his katana, and even from a distance Zangetsu could see his wielder visibly shaking were he stood.

"_Calm yourself Ichigo! What I intend to teach you would have had little to no impact against Sosuke Aizen! You know that in the end all of your attacks against him were just absorbed by the hogyoku, and none of the things I will teach you would have been able to save your friends! The only reason I did not teach them to you then were because we didn't have the time!"_

Zangetsu abruptly sheathed his blade then and thrust his arms out to his sides leaving himself open for an attack.

"_If you do not believe me, then I will not stop you if you wish to strike me down. But, I swear to you, what I told you before was completely true. I will never hold you back again."_

They stood in silence for a minute, and slowly Ichigo managed to get his rage back under his control. The hollow gold bled from his eyes returning them to their natural brown, and after a time he too sheathed his blade. However, his hands were still visibly shaking.

"Alright then, tell me what you had in mind, and tell me just where these "new" abilities are coming from while you're at it."

Zangetsu breathed an imperceptible sigh of relief and let his hands drop to his sides again before he approached Ichigo once more.

_"Tell me Ichigo, what am I?"_

Ichigo ticked an eyebrow but answered, "You're the manifestation of my Quincy bloodline, and the spirit representation of the power I gained from my mother."

Zangetsu nodded before elaborating, _"That is indeed true, but there is something else about me and yourself that you haven't yet learned or realized. You are the very first being in the world to have been born from a Quincy and a shinigami. As such you are also the only person in the entire world who has ever had a Quincy spirit within them. All Quincy lack an inner world, but as a shinigami you have the ability to manifest me. Now, do you know from where the Quincy gained there power?"_

Ichigo shook his head, and then in a somewhat impatient tone answered, "No I do not, what of it?"

"_The Quincy,"_ Zangetsu continued, _"Received their power from Yhwach, the King of the Quincy, and the very first of their kind. He bestowed unto all of them the power that all Quincy possess, and though it is passed down through the generations, it all comes from him. Now, if you have Quincy power as well, then where does it come from?"_

Ichigo blinked at that revelation, before answering in a quiet tone, "It comes from Yhwach then, doesn't it?"

Zangetsu nodded once more, _"Indeed it does. Therefore, if your Quincy power comes from Yhwach then I am a part of Yhwach that has been bestowed upon you just like all Quincy. I am indeed your power, but I originated from Yhwach himself. So, if you are the only one to be able to manifest a Quincy spirit, and I am an in a way an extension of Yhwach himself through your bloodline, then who would I manifest as?"_

Ichigo quirked an eyebrow at the final question, and thought about it for a few moments. What was that supposed to mean? Zangetsu stood there, patient as always, content with letting him come to his own conclusions. A minute ticked by, and the desert was quiet as they stood there in silence.

Ichigo froze.

Do _what_?

"A-are you? Are you a manifestation of the King of the Quincy?"

The corner of Zangetsu's mouth ticked upward slightly in amusement, before he gestured at the sand around them in an all-encompassing motion.

"_Well, that is difficult to explain. It is a yes, and a no. I both am and am not Yhwach, for you see it would be as if your own children had a manifestation of you within themselves because they are your descendants, while you yourself were very much alive. I share his memories and his strengths, but I am not him. I am simply his power given spiritual form within your soul, and the only reason why this is happening is because of your shinigami nature. Do you understand?"_

Slowly, Ichigo nodded his comprehension even as his expression spoke of his amazement.

"Wow I…I had no…I don't know…*cough*…that's uh…cool I guess. In a weird sort of way. I have a thousand year old dead guy in my head…though I guess it's not the weirdest thing to happen to me, and you intend to teach me…?"

Zangetsu's slight smile dropped again, and he answered, _"I intend to teach you the ways of the Quincy. I know that many of our abilities will be outside of your realm of capabilities or needs, such as the summoning of a spirit weapon, but there are still some things that I can teach you that all Quincy know…and even some techniques that only the Quincy King himself knew. Things that no other Quincy has ever had the honor or strength to learn."_

Ichigo's mouth dropped open again and he stared at his Quincy spirit. Zangetsu for his part looked pleased at the reaction he received, glad that in the end he'd still managed to off balance Ichigo with the news. He hadn't lost his touch when it came to surprising Ichigo even after a decade.

Ichigo snapped his mouth shut, and slowly something that he hadn't felt in a long while came over him.

He was excited. Excited, anxious, and exhilarated.

He could already tell, this was going to be good. He cocked a grin.

"Let's do it."

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><p>Special Thanks:<p>

Blackseal84: Thanks for the faith, and I'm glad you like it so far. You were my first review ever, so thanks you so much for it. I hope that I can continue to grab your attention with this fic.

LemonHaze: I totally agree with the Zanpakuto thing. It annoys me too, and it becomes obvious that they never read the manga when they do it. I'm really glad you like the story so far, and I promise not to abandon it. I've been wanting to do this for a long time, and since its been my desire for like years now...well you get the idea. Sorry that you didn't agree with the grimmjow thing...

Dianne060807: Haha was that a fast enough update for you? I'm glad you like the story so far, and merry christmas to you too.

Nortek: I mean this in the most positive way, but with your first review you sounded unsure. You were all like 'I like this'. Then with your second review you were all like 'I'm Loving This, Can't Wait for More.' Can I take that as a sign that you approve more now than before haha? I am glad you like this nortek, and I hope that next time you review its in all caps out of your sheer excitement.

Friaku: I'm so glad you like this so much, and I hope that you continue to enjoy this.

Ctornello: Stay with me, I'm trying to pump these out as fast as I can. Glad you like it.

BassArtist: Here they are! Thanks for the praise, I'm trying my best.

Wataru51: Thanks for reading!

Nix's Warden: I'm honestly interested in seeing how it works out too.

Bsantrim: Thanks for the birthday wish, I can't wait to see where it goes either. If you stick around you might find out ;)

CelestialxXxAngel: Here is your update like you asked. Glad you are enjoying it.

JazalGoldmane: Thanks for the birthday wish, and merry christmas to you too! I'm so glad that you are enjoying the fic, and to be honest I really enjoyed writing writing the training scene. I have big plans on that front. Hope you stick around for more.

Kronus96: Revel in his pain. That is my aim. No one has to know how much you enjoy it, but we all secretly do. Yeah I know the premise isn't original, eh well. It's still a blast, right? I'm so glad you're enjoying it.

youbadoobadooba: Still going man, I can't stop. It's way to much fun. Hope you continue to enjoy.

Hachikonohime: I updated, as requested. I have big plans for Kaien and Ichigo so I hope you continue to enjoy.

Bleach: Lol right? I had fun with that.

Innocent94: Thanks for the compliment. Hope you keep enjoying it.

Whofeedyasuo: I'm really happy you read my story! Hope you stick around and keep reading it. As for the reviews...well I didn't really know what to expect. I'm actually quite happy and very flattered by the reception I have received. For my story only coming out two days ago, it has had a very warm welcome.

Finally...Guest: I'm very happy that you enjoy my fic. I'd agree with your assessment on the current quality of bleach fanfics, but there are some good ones out there as I'm sure you know. Thank you so much for considering mine to be among them. As for it being insightful, well you flatter me. I did try very hard to really show the pain and misery that Ichigo is going through since that is obviously very important to the story. Anyway, here is your update my friend. Hope you stick around.


	7. The Calm Before The Storm

**Disclaimer - I do not own anything from Bleach**

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><p>Warnings: AU, Time Travel, Ichigo-centric, violence, language<p>

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><p><strong>Author's note: Hey everyone, sorry for the late update, but I took some time off to hang out with my family. Christmas and all that, I'm sure you understand. Anyway, jumping right into it, I just want you all to know that yes there will be time skips. Sorry, but I don't think any of you would enjoy it if I wrote out each and every individual day for all of the 500 years to come. Know what I mean? Further explanations are at the bottom for all of your questions, and for what is about to go down. Anyway, enjoy!<strong>

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><p>Chapter 7: The Calm Before The Storm<p>

Distant memories, some forgotten, some secret, and some held in the utmost reverence. A time left behind as those that came before left their marks, only to have those same marks fade in the resulting weathering of ages passing. The past is that, and must be left behind as time flows ever forward. But the now had become then, and within the seemingly abandoned present, there were none left to even remember the memories of today.

At the start of a minute and a decade all were forced to say goodbye to halcyon days.

Nothing but strife was left to bear witness as his values were brought to their paroxysm. Magnified by his partial incredulity, and his desolate isolation along the abandoned roads they paved. Seconds turned into minutes, and minutes turned into years. No reality was proven a dream, no time would heal, and thus time was broken in retribution to shape a new reality.

Those distant memories became fresh once more, only to be shattered in turn by the falling stars. The roads they once paved were paved anew along a different course for all to follow, or else risk being swept aside in the current.

The hidden hand of a straining resolve was all they had left.

The autumn leaves kicked up in the wind and danced through the air like wayward colors on the canvas. They flitted in a lazy venture to reach the skies above, only to fall to an invisible razor's edge. The hues of the season softly showed the passing of time, and the once heated days fell before the slowly transitioning sketch.

The trees shed their cover, and gave in to the coming times. Autumn stretched long and held on with all of its might, and yet death comes even to the seasons. The winter was upon the world, and with it a war. Snow fell to the earth, covering it in a pale ashen veil. Yet, still the razor's edge cut through the wind, dividing the crystalline structures from their other halves. Without a pause for breath the blades met throughout the frozen spell.

Faster they flew, fervent in their race to escape heartache and sorrow. The goal lay beyond that near hill which obscured the view on the distant horizon, and still they ran. Blades of quickened ice caught the light, and pressed on through the frozen months. Progress was made, but the end result still lay hidden beneath the dead leaves and gelid snow. What would come with the spring?

Fleeting images danced in the trees, bounding over and under to meet again in the clash of a thunderous squall. Angry fists clenched with desperate intent, now molded into a forming tsunami of cascading resolve. Like water now formless, like water now flowing, and like water slowly building from a stream into a raging river.

The once glowing metal was cooling now submerged in the patience of water, and the sketch was growing clearer as the hands flew across the page. The blades slowed to a stop and they awaited the coming voice.

"You've done well, Kaien."

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><p>Winter was ending, and flecks of green were already starting to appear at random in the yard, but he could still feel the lingering crispness of the air every time he drew breath. It was a slight sting of cold deep in his chest to offset the heat that he was generating throughout the spar. Even in this cold, sweat still dripped from his brow, but he wouldn't let how weary he was distract him. He had to keep going, and he focused on his foe down the length of his blade.<p>

It was a marvel to him how composed his opponent seemed to be even now. He'd improved, that much he knew for a fact. He'd been training since the end of spring last year, and in a few months it would mark the end of a full year of Ichigo being his teacher. In all that time he knew that he'd gotten better in all areas. Without a doubt, if he ever saw his old zanjutsu or hakuda teachers again then he could defeat both of them with one hand behind his back. He'd become even more skilled at kido, learning a sizable chunk of new spells, and he'd picked up a lot of speed too with his shunpo being noticeably faster with each passing month. Knowing all of that it was even more surprising to see how composed his sensei was.

He'd improved so much and yet Ichigo _still_ hadn't been forced to draw his katana in any of their spars, always relying on his shorter wakizashi. He did draw them both on occasion, but never because Kaien was pressuring him. Even now, he stood across from Kaien as casually as ever with the shorter blade hanging at his side.

It honestly made him wonder how far his teacher's strength really went, or if he'd ever get to see it firsthand.

Ichigo spoke up in the sudden quiet while readying his blade.

"Get your head out of the clouds Kaien."

And just like that they were at it again.

Ichigo lunged into a quick swing that came racing for Kaien's abdomen, and Kaien blocked quickly. He spun off of the block into Ichigo's guard to swing his free elbow around aiming for his teachers face. Ichigo ducked and weaved under the arm to spin away as well, letting his wakizashi trail after him in the barest hint of a swing. With their close proximity it went almost unnoticed, and Ichigo managed to drag his shorter blade through the Kaien's clothes barely missing the flesh of his side.

Kaien took a fleeting moment to blink down at the close tear, sighing internally at having given the two retainers more work, before he pursued Ichigo. His teacher jumped away, and as soon as he landed was greeted by Kaien thrusting forward in an attempt to gut him. Ichigo bumped the swords trajectory aside with his own, and brought his zanpakuto around for a swipe at Kaien's head.

So it went. Trading blow for blow. Gradually they picked up the pace, and at one point Kaien was even disarmed and comically chased around the yard until he managed to grab his asauchi again. They didn't stop though. That was how Ichigo taught him, the shinigami would run him ragged for hours on end until he couldn't even stand up straight anymore before he'd call it a day. His progress was astounding though, so he was more than willing to keep going. He knew it was hell, but he also knew that all of his progress was thanks to Ichigo.

He owed Ichigo a great debt for this. For everything really.

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><p>"Now now Kukaku, that's not very nice. You shouldn't beat up Ganju like that."<p>

He bent down and scooped the younger of the two siblings up, and plopped him back down onto the kitchen floor again. Kukaku pouted with her arms crossed, a sour expression of disgruntled annoyance settling on her face. It was funny in a way to Ichigo whenever he saw that look. It was perfectly identical to the one she always wore hundreds of years into the future whenever Ganju pissed her off, although it was still somewhat off-putting to see it on a child's face.

He left the two behind and weaved around the kitchen table to open one of the cupboards, and out of the corner of his eye he spied Ganju hovering awkwardly next to him. No doubt trying to stay close to him to avoid Kukaku.

The corners of his mouth threatened to tug up minutely, but as always they never quite made it.

He glanced down at the kid next to him, and their eyes met. For a bare moment, he drowned in the surreal feeling that came from looking down at his dead cousin's childish face. He blinked it away, and he glanced over at Kukaku and then back at him. Ganju's eyes lit up for an unknown reason, and he seemed to get some message from the glances that Ichigo made. There was no intended message, but Ganju still took some sort of hint.

Ganju scooted over a bit, before he looked back at his sister, and that somewhat frightened yet slightly indignant look came back. It dropped after a moment of his sister glaring daggers at him, and he took a few steps closer to her.

Ichigo cocked an eyebrow that the kids never saw. Did Ganju have a death wish?

The child looked at his shoes for a moment, and glanced up again at his sister. Their eyes met again, but he couldn't hold the gaze so his eyes dropped down to his little shoes again. He shuffled in place a bit, and Kukaku was starting to really become volatile if her expression was anything to go by.

His next words changed that though. "So-sorry nee-chan. I didn't mean to upset you. I think…I think that any fireworks you make will be the best."

Kukaku blinked owlishly at her little brother, wholly taken aback.

The kitchen was silent for a moment, and Ichigo looked out the nearby window to see if the outside looked any different. With all the goings on around here, he was always checking. Just in case, you know, the world decided to end without warning him first.

A few moments later Kukaku huffed in slipping annoyance before she uncrossed her arms. She regarded her little brother with shrewd eyes, and like lightning she reached out and snatched Ganju's forearm in her own hand. Ganju's eyes shot open in fright, and he looked seconds away from screaming bloody murder.

She tugged him after her for a few steps, and when he pulled back a bit out of wariness she glanced back at him with a surprisingly soft expression.

"Come on Ganju, let's go outside and play."

Ganju did his best impression of a goldfish. Ichigo didn't blame him.

A few more seconds of stunned dragging led to the two running outside together hand in hand, and about a minute later Ichigo could hear the squeals of the two having fun drifting in through the backyard window.

Ichigo shrugged. Huh, that was weird. What a turnaround.

He turned back to the cupboard and fished out a cup to fill. Across the kitchen he found the jugs of water stuffed in the back of the pantry, and for the millionth time lamented the lack of modern day appliances that he'd grown up with. It was a strange feeling, to be stuck in the past where they lacked basic things, (basic to him) like running water, air conditioning, or just electricity in general.

The dichotomy between the living world and the afterlife had always confused him. Humans, who lived for such short lifetimes in comparison to souls, were able to advance so far in their years. Despite that, the afterlife was still backwards and archaic. Didn't scientists die too? Surely some of the great minds over the centuries ended up somewhere. Of course, that might be explained away with all those great minds having lacked even the barest hint of spiritual pressure in life, resulting in the loss of their memories upon entering the afterlife. Still, just the loss of memories didn't suddenly make those people dumber, and as a soul you could have thousands of years to advance.

It was certainly strange, but it wasn't like Ichigo could do anything about it. Besides, if he were to go to the human world right now it wouldn't be much different than the afterlife anyway.

He took a swig before turning to face the new occupant of the kitchen. Shiroganehiko strode in, no doubt about to begin preparation for the day's lunch, but he stopped upon spying Ichigo within.

"Ichigo-dono," was all he said, they never really said much to him as it was, and he sketched a quick bow before heading toward the pantry.

Ichigo shook his head in exasperation. He'd long since given up attempting to stop them, but for some reason both Shiroganehiko and his counterpart felt it was necessary to address him like that. He'd initially asked them to refrain from it, but neither had listened in the end. He was known for always being loose with formalities, and suffix's had never been his thing, so for them to refer to him so respectfully made him a little uncomfortable.

It was a shame too, since those two were probably the only two that he could be truly comfortable around in the entire house. He'd never really known them, and looking at their faces didn't make him want to punch anything, so he kind of wished that they'd quit treating him like he was some damn noble.

Never mind the fact that he technically was a noble. That wasn't important, nor particularly known information. To them he should have just been some stray shinigami that provided them with more work like cooking or cleaning, so for them to treat him like that was a bit strange.

He finished his cup and set it down on the counter before making a beeline for the exit. As he breezed past the retainer though, who had moved his supplies to the counter, he was halted.

"Uh…Ichigo-dono. A word if you will."

Ichigo paused and turned slightly to face the retainer and he cocked a brow in consideration.

"Is something wrong?"

The retainer shook his head, "No Ichigo-dono, it's just that both Koganehiko and I have been meaning to speak with you for some time now. We haven't really had the chance of late, but with Kaien-sama in the Seireitei we have been given the chance to speak with you without worry."

Surprise and slight suspicion took the place of consideration. Something they didn't want Kaien to hear? That was…unexpected. He'd always known the two to be completely devoted to the Shiba family, so why would they want to hide something? He turned fully to face the retainer, and withdrew his hood. He crossed his arms and nodded,

"Alright, I'm listening."

The retainer didn't speak immediately, and instead breezed past Ichigo and walked to the window that faced the backyard. Through it he could see the two children playing some sort of game of tag.

"It is in regards to those two, Ichigo-dono," the retainer looked back, "and the concerns Koganehiko and I share over their wellbeing."

He gazed out the window again, trusting that Ichigo was listening, "When Kaien-sama reached an old enough age to be able to go on the sabbatical his two younger siblings had begged to go with him. Initially he had been meant to go on it alone with two other retainers different from us. That…ended up changing as you can see."

The retainer kept gazing into the back yard, and an intrigued Ichigo strode up to join him.

"Their parents, Rōrensu Shiba-sama and Rozan Shiba-sama, must have caved. That is the only possible explanation for this. Both of the two had begged and pleaded with not only their parents, but with Kaien-sama as well. However, Kaien-sama had undoubtedly caved first. He'd gone to his parents, and promised them that he would take care of them. If they agreed he'd keep them safe, and they would be able to go on the sabbatical with him."

The retainer shook his head then, and a grim, woeful expression settled on his face.

"I can't help but feel that that was…a poor decision."

The retainer looked over at Ichigo, "Those children are far too young to be out here. Not only in regards to their safety, but also their development. They should be at the Shiba compound with their parents taking care of them instead of out here in the wilds so far away from home. A child that is growing and maturing needs to be around their parents when they are so young in order to grow and develop correctly, or else run the risk of lacking crucial lessons and understanding proper behavior needed to live in society."

Ichigo nodded in agreement. Children definitely needed their parents. His own mother had died when he was admittedly very young, and his father…well his father had always been better with girls instead of boys. He'd sort of left Ichigo to do his own thing, confident that he could handle his own issues, and had taken care of Karin and Yuzu instead. He hadn't been terribly upset, if he couldn't have a good father figure than at least Karin and Yuzu did. Besides, his mother had died because of him. He didn't deserve it, and his little sisters definitely did. Those two deserved nothing but happiness.

Look at what had happened to him though. He'd gone on to be a brawler, a widely known delinquent, and the local attitude problem. Never mind the fact that he always had good grades, and that he only fought thugs that picked a fight with him. He'd been labeled, and he hadn't really cared. Maybe his not caring was another by-product of him lacking parental guidance. Of course, there was the fact that he was emotionally reticent, had a protector complex a mile wide, and had absolutely no respect for authority figures.

He frowned mightily after a moment, and his fist closed into a white knuckle grip. He had to stop. He couldn't keep thinking about it all the time. The thought of them, his sisters and everything…he needed to stop.

He forcefully turned his attention back to Shiroganehiko.

The retainer sighed before continuing, "We have been out here for some time. You have been with us for almost a year, but this sabbatical has lasted almost 7 since the start. The kids have seen their parents off and on over that time, but that is still 7 years away from them. Plus, this sabbatical is meant to go on for another 13 years. That's 20 whole years away from their parents during a time in their lives when they need them."

The retainer shook his head, "Kaien-sama does his best of course. He is a good man, and a good older brother, but he is no father figure. Besides, he is always busy with his own devices or with you in his training."

The retainer eyed the kids for a moment before turning his gaze on Ichigo, and this time there was a clear eyed focus in them that spoke of his seriousness. Beyond the focus, there was a measure of…appreciation? Ichigo couldn't quite identify what the look meant, and it confused him.

"I want to thank you, Ichigo-dono. Both Koganehiko and I owe you a great deal."

Ichigo blinked at that. Do what? He hadn't expected that. In all honesty, judging by the direction of the conversation he'd expected anger at keeping Kaien away from the kids, not gratitude.

"I will admit, neither I nor Koganehiko knew what to expect when you came to us. We were suspicious, and we were wary in place of Kaien-sama's open trust. However, that suspicion proved false in the end. You have helped Kaien-sama a great deal, not only with his training, but also in progressing down the path to maturity. He is far different now than he was back at the Shiba compound decades ago."

He looked out the window again, "However, that is not what we are truly grateful for. My counterpart and I were charged with looking after those two many years ago by their parents, so our worry for them stems from that duty. You are different from Kaien-sama in many respects…despite your peculiarly similar appearance to him."

Ichigo coughed sheepishly and kept listening, the retainer paid it no mind.

"I can't help but feel like you are a god-send. In under a year the two children have taken a great liking to you. Even going so far as to label you an uncle, but like I said you are different from Kaien. He is a loving brother, but he is exactly that. A brother whom they can play with and act childishly around. A father is what they need, but…well that is impossible in the current circumstances. An uncle though? That is definitely something capable of at least partially filling the empty shoes. Someone who they can see as their elder, a mature authority figure to model themselves after."

He paused for a moment to regard Ichigo's reaction before pressing on.

"Since you came here both Koganehiko and I have noticed a gradual change in the children's behavior. They aren't nearly as harsh to one another, instead playing together and resolving their disputes without coming to blows so often. It still happens of course, but your influence seems to have curbed their past tendencies."

From behind Shiroganehiko, as if summoned Koganehiko came walking in from the hallway and came to stand next to his fellow retainer. Both of the hulking, near identical men inclined their heads for a moment before the new comer spoke up.

"Shiroganehiko is right Ichigo-dono. We are both very grateful for what you have done, and we want you to know that you are always welcome with us."

Suddenly, both blasted their fists into their open palms at the waist in a resounding thunderclap of flesh meeting palm. Within the next instant both violently slammed into a bow at the waist, so viscously fast that wind seemed to kick up throughout the kitchen and a dust cloud from the floor lifted up into the air.

It was comical, but Ichigo was too stunned to appreciate it. His hands came up and hovered awkwardly in a somewhat placating gesture in front of him, and openly gaped at the two. They didn't see him since they were both still bowing, and they didn't look like they would be standing up again any time soon.

Ichigo awkwardly grabbed the shoulders of the two and forcibly stood them back up again. His mouth moved to speak, but he didn't really know what to say. Eventually, under their expectant stares, he closed his mouth and settled for a stilted nod.

"Uh…yeah. It's no problem."

With that he took hesitant steps around them and left them behind. Eager to leave the entirely strange and completely bizarre encounter behind him. He'd done nothing, so why were they thanking him?

He was right. The world was ending, and it really hadn't decided to warn him first.

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><p>Ichigo walked down the hallway near his room and headed for the backyard again. Out there he could sense Kaien along with the two retainers, and he was interested in hearing just what had dragged him away back to the Seireitei in the first place. He'd been gone for several days as it was, and judging by the hurried way in which he'd left to return home it must have been urgent. He could sense an agitated edge to his pupil's reiatsu even from here, and as he drew closer he couldn't help but start to feel worried himself.<p>

Was something going on with the Shiba clan? He'd never heard of any disputes amongst the family or any other such things from his late cousins in his own time. So what was going on?

He opened the shoji doors that led to the back, and he spied three people huddled under the tree together talking in hushed voices. Kaien was there along with the retainers, and judging by their faces there was something going on. Something bad.

Upon seeing them again, his thoughts idly returned to what they had said to him the other day. It had been very weird, and on top of their words, after the event they'd gone back to acting exactly the same as before. They kept right on cooking, cleaning, and calling him Ichigo-dono, and they gave no outward sign of the conversation from before even taking place.

Weirdos, the lot of them. The whole Shiba clan was bizarre.

Upon laying eyes on Ichigo, Kaien broke away from the two, and the retainers passed him to go back inside and return to whatever their duties demanded of them. Kaien approached him, and there was something in his expression that gave Ichigo pause. It was worried, anxious even, and Ichigo's own concern rose in height.

Ichigo approached and they met in the yard, and Ichigo was the first to address him.

"What's going on here Kaien? What's with the look? Why'd you head home and dump the babysitter job on me?"

Kaien laughed good-naturedly and the worry seemed to vanish momentarily, "Oh give it up Ichigo. I know you like looking after them."

Ichigo scowled, "Yeah, sure I like the kids. That doesn't mean you can just leave them for me to look after while you go running off home. Now spill it. What's going on?"

The good humor drained from the young Shiba's face, and a grim uncertainty filled the void. His mouth open and closed out of uncertainty of what to say, and his eyes gazed over the fence for a moment at the nearby clusters of buildings that marked one of the surrounding villages. He looked back at Ichigo again, and Ichigo could see that the worry there had grown.

"We've been called home Ichigo. My siblings and I, along with the retainers. As of right now my sabbatical is on hold."

Ichigo blinked in surprise at the news, and Kaien continued in a far more hushed voice.

"Something is going on in the Seireitei right now Ichigo. Whispers of unrest amongst the rukongai citizens, and the shinigami that joined the Gotei 13 that came from the rukongai is spreading. There is anger against the noble families for their wealth, and the contrasting harsh living conditions that the citizens live in out here. No one knows for sure what the main issue is, but…my family doesn't think it is safe out here for us. If this unrest keeps escalating, then there is a chance for open rebellion. If it does come to that, and any of the nearby citizens were to discover us as nobles…we wouldn't be safe."

Ichigo was stunned. Rebellion?! What the hell was going on? He took a step closer, and his own voice dropped down to a hushed yet urgent whisper.

"What the hell are you talking about Kaien? You think that they might hurt you or the kids?"

Kaien nodded, "That's what my parents are afraid of, and if I'm being honest I'm worried about the possibility too. Just in case rebellion does break out, it would be safer to have them home and within the walls of the Seireitei."

Ichigo was still stunned, but he couldn't help but agree with Kaien and his parents. He needed more information though.

"Tell me what you know Kaien. I know you're a smart kid, so tell me what you think, and include any of your suspicions. I need to know."

Kaien grimaced and glanced over Ichigo's shoulder at the house to make sure no one was listening or watching before he answered.

"I…I told you that I don't really know the specifics, but you know as well as I do how the noble families are. The Shiba clan doesn't act like them, but you were in the Gotei 13 so you must know how they act."

Ichigo nodded, and a flare of annoyance accompanied his thoughts, "Yeah…they're a bunch of stuck up pricks. They think they're better than everyone else, and they look down on rukongai citizens and non-noble family shinigami alike. It's pathetic."

Kaien's grimace vanished momentarily to be replaced by good humor, "Exactly. I couldn't have put it better myself," the good humor vanished, "Anyway, that attitude has been around for centuries, and it makes my family sick. If you want my opinion it was just a matter of time before the rukongai citizens and the shinigami that came from there had enough of it. I'm not saying I'm supporting them of course. Rebellion and open war is no way to resolve a dispute, and who ever resorts to violence should always be seen as in the wrong. But…I can't help but feel that the anger they feel isn't misplaced."

Kaien took a step back, before saying one last thing in a still hushed voice.

"The last thing I know is that there's a name that's been going around. Seishūin Kaname. She's someone out in the rukongai stirring them up. No knows where she is or what she looks like, but there are still whispers of her being the one that might ignite war. People are supposedly gathering to her…apart from that that's all I know."

Kaien finished, and turned to walk back into the house. He called over his shoulder, "Anyway, we need to start packing. We got a long road ahead…and do me a favor would you? Don't mention any of this to the kids. We'll just tell them that we're going to visit my parents or something, no need to scare them you know?"

Ichigo turned to face his pupil, and called out to him before he entered the house, "Kaien."

His student paused in the doorway, and looked back at him expectantly.

"I'm not going with you."

Kaien's eyes shot wide, and he took a step back out of surprise.

"Wh-what do you mean? Don't you want to come with us?"

Ichigo shook his head and tried not to meet the upset face of his student. "I do Kaien, but I can't. You're training is on hold for now. I…I can't keep training you right now if what you said is true. If there is a chance of rebellion then…the Gotei 13 might need me. I'm still loyal to them, and I can't just leave them high and dry with a possible war on the horizon. You understand. As soon as it's over, and you all come back here then we'll start your training again."

Kaien jumped off of the porch and sped over to stand before Ichigo again, "Then let me come with you! Then you can keep training me, and I can fight with the shinigami!"

Ichigo's eyes shot open and his hands darted forward to grab Kaien by the front of his robes. Kaien was dazed and in the next second Ichigo hoisted Kaien up off of the ground and stuck his face right up to Kaien's own. Kaien's eyes met Ichigo's and he was stunned by the anger, rage, and the darkness he saw dancing in his teacher's eyes.

"_Like hell you will."_

Ichigo threw Kaien to the ground, and the Shiba sprawled there in the grass. Ichigo moved forward and planted his foot square in his student's chest, and bent over to glare at him straight in the eyes. The darkness never left him.

"If you think for one fucking second that I'm gonna let you anywhere near the battlefield…then you are sorely mistaken. You've been training for one year Kaien Shiba, _one year_, and if war comes then the people fighting will have had decades, if not centuries of fighting under their belts. You wouldn't last a second out there!"

He withdrew his foot, and his still dazed student sat up supporting himself with his arms.

Ichigo took a minute to calm himself, and he pulled back on the anger and despair that he drowned in when he pictured Kaien dead on the battlefield, and Kaien's apparent complete disregard for the horrors of war.

Once he was calm, he continued.

"You will be going home Kaien, your family needs you. You told me yourself that you wanted the power I gave you to protect, right? Then that is what you will do, and I won't hear a word otherwise. Your brother and sister need you to protect them, or was what you said before just a lie? Are you really just another fool who is hungry for battle? Have I been wasting my time all along?"

Kaien blinked up at him, and after a moment he seemed to remember himself. He stood up and looked at Ichigo with a large measure of understanding and sheepish remorse, "Yeah, I understand. I didn't remember what you taught me. I'm sorry, that was foolish of me. I will head home with them."

Ichigo scrutinized him for a second, "You swear? On your honor?"

Kaien nodded, "Yes, I swear."

Ichigo regarded him with that piercing stare for a few moments longer before finally relenting, and he strode up to Kaien again. His pupil warily backed up and asked, "If you're gonna hit me again, can I at least get a head start?"

Ichigo shook his head, "I'm not going to hit you Kaien, and a head start wouldn't save you anyway. I just need you to promise me something else. When you go back home, promise me that you won't mention me by name. To anyone."

Kaien was perplexed at the request but he slowly nodded, "Uhhh…sure, but is there something wrong?"

Ichigo shook his head, "No there isn't anything wrong, I just don't want people finding out about me," he paused in consideration, and thought up the best lie he could, "Here, let me ask you a question. Did you ever hear of me before you met me? A shinigami with dual blades apart from Kyoraku-taichou and Ukitake-taichou?"

Kaien shook his head, "No, I-…I was actually surprised about that when I first met you. I never asked though, wasn't exactly my business."

Ichigo felt his face threaten to break into a small grin, the kid was learning, "Exactly Kaien, you haven't heard of me. See what I mean?"

It took him a second before it seemed to click, "Ah, I get it. Well then don't worry. I won't say anything about your zanpakuto, and I won't mention your name. I'll tell the retainers too."

Ichigo nodded, "Are you leaving now?"

"Yeah, I asked Koganehiko and Shiroganehiko to start packing up our stuff and to round the kids up. The sooner we leave here the better, and as soon as this nonsense is over then we can return here and get back to training…when do you think you'll come back here?"

Ichigo shrugged, "It shouldn't be too long. War might not even come for all we know, and as soon as your family decides it's safe for you to continue your sabbatical it'll probably be around then that I'll be free to do as I want again."

Kaien nodded, "That's good to hear, and when are you leaving?"

"As soon as this conversation is over."

Kaien blinked at that, "Oh. Well…uh. Good luck then Ichigo, and thanks for all your help. Stay safe, and try to come back in one piece alright?"

Ichigo shook his head, "As if. Take care of your siblings Kaien. Good luck."

With that Ichigo disappeared into shunpo, blasting up and over the fence line, and he missed the tail end of Kaien's last sentence.

"Don't you want to say goodbye to Kukaku and Ganju?"

* * *

><p>Ichigo came to a stop several miles away, and he stood high up on one of the branches of a massive tree that overshadowed the surrounding forest. The wind kicked up around him, and the tree swayed in its pull. He paid it no mind. All around him he could see little clusters of housing and villages dotting the landscape marking areas of civilization out here in the outer rim. Far beyond him, across the stretching forest and on the distant horizon he could spy the Seireitei. Shining like a beacon, a golden city on a hill, for all of the afterlife to see…and envy.<p>

He plopped down on the branch he was on, and took a moment to think. A rebellion? Unrest in the rukongai? He wasn't exactly unsurprised when it came down to it, but still. What was he going to do? He couldn't tackle this like he used to. He couldn't just walk up to old man Yamamoto, and ask him to spill the beans on what he knew.

He had no intention of going to the Seireitei of course. He'd lied several times in that conversation with Kaien. He wouldn't be joining the Gotei 13 in this. How could he? It was an impossibility.

That had been close though he noted. He'd almost lost it when the kid had proposed that he join Ichigo. It wasn't like he could, Ichigo didn't even know what he was going to do, but his words had made Ichigo almost go blind in his anger.

No one should ever want to fight like that.

No one should ever want to go to war at all. War was nothing but a waste of the only thing anyone ever really has. It wasn't life or money or anything, because when you think about it even those things aren't truly our own. Those can be taken from us without warning.

The only thing we all truly have is time.

Our lives can be taken from us, but while we live we have our time. When our lives are stolen from us that doesn't mean that someone stole our time away. That just means that our clock has stopped ticking. While we yet live, that is the time we have to spend as we see fit, and war is never something to waste that precious time on.

The loss of life is not to be downplayed of course. War is also a waste of life, and perhaps the worst waste of all. He knew that lesson well. It was a lesson that all warriors learned at one time or another. He knew it so well that he stayed up late at night just thinking about it. Dreaming about it.

Lamenting it.

For Kaien to want to go to war on a whim, as a split second decision, effectively bypassing everything that had to be taken into consideration first…it incensed him. Kaien didn't consider whether he was ready to die yet, whether he could take another's life yet, whether he was prepared to see such unending bloodshed that stretched as far as the eye could see.

He hadn't asked himself if he was prepared to watch the life drain from someone else's eyes as they died, bloody and broken in his arms, crying out into the grey sky, begging for the pain to stop, begging to go home, and begging for their mother to come and hold them. Crying tears of blinding pain, overwhelming regret, bitter loss, and terrifying confusion. Wondering if the end had come, and if their life was ending or not, and wishing it was all some nightmare that they'd wake up from.

Ichigo blinked the shadows out of his eyes, and pulled himself together.

Kaien didn't know what it was like. He didn't have a damn clue.

Ichigo would have to make sure it stayed that way.

He suddenly jumped to his feet, not swaying in the slightest though he was balanced on such a narrow branch, and he made up his mind whilst desperate to get his mind off of those _other_ thoughts.

He wouldn't be going back to the Seireitei. That would be idiotic, or at least he wouldn't be going back for now. If he needed to he could probably do some snooping to dig for information. For now though he'd follow the whispers. This Kaname woman that Kaien spoke of needed to be found. He'd find her and listen to what she had to say. If it came to war…well…he wouldn't back her. He doubted he'd back the Gotei 13 either. He wasn't about to jump headlong into another war he had nothing to do with. He'd probably stay out of it as much as he could, but he still needed to know what was going on.

He glanced behind him, looking for the nearest shadow that was his size. Spying none he hopped across several branches and came to the side of the tree facing away from the sun. There he found plenty of shadow, and he went to work.

Zangetsu was teaching him many things, and it had obviously started with reishi manipulation. All Quincy possessed the ability, but it had taken longer than normal for Ichigo to learn how to actively control it. He admittedly wasn't even close to the level of finesse that the Quincy of old had possessed, but he was getting there. To Zangetsu's happiness, Ichigo had learned to easily manipulate his own reishi far better than the reishi in the atmosphere around him, though he'd still need to work on that particular aspect of his Quincy training.

Of the things he'd learned thus far though, what he was about to do he considered the coolest. He knew that considering it cool was a tad childish, but he didn't care. It was damn cool.

He could use reishi to manipulate shadows. By pumping the reishi into it he had learned to create "space" within the shadows. According to Zangetsu, the ability had been one of Yhwach's own personal ones, and theoretically it could be used to create whole separate dimensions within said shadows. Sort of like a safe haven tactic.

The more complex stuff about creating separate dimensions had gone straight over Ichigo's head for the most part, but he had grasped the basics. Through its use, he could create pathways to where ever he desired to go undetected. It was effectively like a garganta, although it cut out the bit where he had to detour anywhere, and it was supposedly untraceable.

Either way, it was so cool. Once he got the hang of it he'd be jumping into shadows all over the place.

Finally, after losing his grip on the reishi he'd harnessed several times and silently cursing to himself over it, he managed to get it right. He took a tentative step into the shadow, uncertain if it was stable or not, before he vanished in a wisp of inky smoke.

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><p>Shunsui glanced around the captain's meeting hall in the 1st division, and took stock of the range of expressions he saw on his fellow taichous. Some had schooled expression, serene and even disinterested. Ginrei was one of them, and so was Retsu. They were old hands at this. Others were more agitated, but he could tell that they were trying to hide their agitation. Kenpachi-Kiganjo hadn't even deemed it worth his time to show up. The younger captains he was referring to were those like Tindra-chan, or Satoru-san, and even Kirio-chan. They were all showing signs of wariness. They weren't hiding it as well as the others though. They were all relatively new to the position of taichou, especially Kirio-chan there, and while they would seem entirely calm and collected to a younger shinigami, they couldn't hide it from his eyes.<p>

He was perceptive. It was hard not to be when you were as old as him, or had been a captain for as long as him for that matter. You didn't live this long, nor hold the position of taichou for as long as him by not being perceptive. You also had to be a bit ruthless, but that was beside the point.

They all had come to find different ways of hiding their perceptiveness and their ruthlessness though. He thought he hid it the best, what with his tendencies to drink and laze about. He also thought his method of hiding it was the best. Mainly because he actually enjoyed those activities, and would rather do them on any given day as opposed to his actual duties. No one would suspect him. He knew that the younger shinigami all saw him as the lazy captain, the one who didn't take anything seriously, and therefore didn't need to be taken seriously. It was all a ruse to hide himself. To hide the strength and reiatsu that was kept tightly controlled under his grip. To hide the person he could become if the time and situation called for it. He was a shinigami after all, a God of Death was what he was, and while he was in fact a friendly, womanizing, lazy, drinker he was also someone else when he had his blades drawn.

Retsu was a perfect example. If you took one look at that serene, peaceful expression she donned all the time, you would automatically assume she was just the nice woman she appeared to be. The non-threatening healer that everyone thought she was. Everyone who saw her in that way didn't know the nature she hid. They never knew _Yachiru. _They didn't know who she hid behind that mask, nor the horrors that she could bring to bear.

Jushirou wasn't as bad as them, but at the same time…you didn't stay a taichou or live that long without having to get your hands dirty every once in a while. He hid that behind his kindness, and while he was in fact a very kind man, not to mention a loyal friend, he too was a God of Death.

So yeah. He was perceptive, and he could see straight through the facades the others put up. They were nervous. Very nervous.

He didn't blame them.

It…hadn't been a good year for any of them.

Yama-jii had been angsting over their mystery shinigami for months. When none of the searching or investigations had born fruit he'd been silently upset over it. He didn't seem to blame them, but he still took it out on them indirectly. He inadvertently started cracking down harder on insubordination, and he even got onto some of the captains for things that he would have turned a blind eye to before. He wasn't harassing them on purpose of course. He was just more edgy now with them not turning up anything.

They still hadn't found anything even now, no matter how hard Satoru pushed his division in their search.

Now there was this.

Desertions all over. Shinigami up and leaving their posts, completely abandoning their divisions. It wasn't a massive number, but there was still a sizeable chunk that had torn away.

Something was happening. They'd been hearing rumors of rebellion for about a month now, but with all the desertions it was starting to become very worrisome. The situation was spiraling out of control. Where were the deserters going? Whole dispatches would disappear, some groups only coming back with half of their men on routine missions because shinigami had up and left right in the middle of a patrol, running off only to disappear into the surrounding rukongai.

They'd noticed a trend of course, all of the shinigami were former rukongai citizens, and they'd all heard the rumors. Whispers of discontent had reached all of their ears, and those whispers painted a very ugly picture of what the future held.

Shunsui reached up and scratched his cheek, and then sighed.

How bothersome.

He glanced up from under his sakkat, and watched as the Soutaichou finally ambled into the meeting hall with that slow pace he liked to walk. He idly noted that there was another example of a shinigami that hid behind a mask. Yama-jii thought that if he appeared frail and old that people wouldn't see him as the tremendous threat to life and limb that he actually was. No one believed the Soutaichou's mask of course, but he still wore one.

He reached his position at the head of the two lines, and slammed the tip of his cane into the wooden floor to signify the start of the meeting. He cracked an eye open to look at all of them gathered together, and his single eye lingered for a little longer than normal on the empty spot left by Kenpachi Kiganjo. Shunsui immediately knew that the 11th division taichou was in for it the next time Yama-jii saw him.

Finishing his survey of the room, he spoke and his gruff tenor filled the hall, "All fukutaichou are dismissed from this meeting, and are instructed to return to their respective divisions and await further orders."

Shunsui blinked at that, but outwardly appeared unruffled. No lieutenants for this one eh? That was a bad sign.

The fukutaichou all looked around concerned for a few moments before obeying and shuffling out of the meeting hall. When the door finally closed again, and it was nothing but taichous left to fill the spots, the Soutaichou continued.

"There is an issue that must be discussed here that is of great urgency. As all of you are aware, there have been rumors circulating about unrest within the districts, and possible rebellion on the horizon. Also, the numerous desertions amongst our ranks needs to be addressed as well. Shihouin-taichou, please give your report."

Satoru Shihouin glanced up and cleared his throat. All eyes turned to him, and he faltered for a moment before picking up where the Soutaichou left off.

"As all of you know, the ratio of shinigami that are affiliated with all of the different noble houses, and those that come from the rukongai, is strongly in the latter's favor. There are far more recruits that come from the districts than otherwise. All of the desertion, as in 100% of them, are from shinigami that came from such a background. As of right now the total number has risen to roughly 800 or so," several sharp intakes of breath and grunts of surprise resounded around the room, Satoru continued, "The full strength of the Gotei 13 from before the desertions started was near 6000 shinigami, and 800 shinigami abandoning their posts has left a dent in our effectiveness to police both the living world and the districts within our reach."

He glanced around the room again, letting that information take hold for a moment before he continued on, "I have had my division run surveillance in as many districts as I could manage, and we have been able to gather a sizable amount of intel. Firstly, the reason for the unrest seems to be centered on the unhappiness of the rukongai citizens, and the anger they have against the Noble families for their contrasting living conditions. Secondly, there is supposedly a great amount of discrimination against the rukongai citizens all coming from affiliates of the noble families. That second issue is apparently intimately tied to the desertions amongst our ranks. The last piece of intelligence is that there is supposedly a woman out amongst the rukongai, Seishūin Kaname, who is leading the dissenters. She is gathering them around her, but none of my efforts have been able to locate her in the past two weeks since I first heard her name. She has gone to ground, and disappeared into the rukongai districts, although all information points to her being located somewhere to the south."

Satoru finished his report, and the Soutaichou nodded his head, no doubt having heard all of it before the meeting began.

Yama-jii spoke up next, "Ladies and Gentlemen, we find ourselves in an urgent situation. I will no longer tolerate such blatant insubordination. From here on out, if any of the deserters are found then they are to be immediately arrested, and if they should resist lethal force is permitted. Shihouin-taichou, you are ordered to continue your search for this woman, and have her arrested and brought here. If she resists then she also must die."

Satoru nodded at the Soutaichou. With that issue dealt with, a look of exasperation and almost annoyance came over the Soutaichou's aged features in regard to the next issue, "As for the root of the unrest…by law the Gotei 13 cannot meddle in the affair of the Noble families. As you all know, the only time in which the Gotei 13 is allowed to step in and interfere in the dealings of the families is when they are breaking the law beyond a shadow of a doubt. As no law is apparently being broken here…we can't act. In light of that…I would ask all of you here today, who are members of those houses, to conduct your own personal investigation in the capacity of a family member. You are not required to, that is not an order, but for the sake of peace I would ask it of you."

Shunsui inclined his head in acknowledgment along with several other captains who were all a member of one of the houses. He would speak to his brother about this, and see if there were any in his family that might be causing problems.

"In regards to the number of desertions and the woman leading the dissenters, that is sensitive information. All taichou are to refrain from discussing it with their squad members, and should only speak of it with other taichou in private, otherwise you are to prepare for open conflict," the Soutaichou slammed his cane down again, "That concludes this meeting, return to your divisions and await further orders. Matsushita-taichou, find the 11th squad captain for me and have him sent here immediately."

Tindra answered back with a 'hai, Soutaichou' and they all filed out of the meeting hall. Shunsui ambled up behind Jushirou and walked beside him as they left the 1st division barracks and descended the steps. As the other taichou disappeared into shunpo and they were left alone, he spoke up.

"So, what do you think Juu-chan?"

Jushirou looked over at him and gave him a look that conveyed exactly what he thought. He didn't need to say a word.

Shunsui nodded, "Yeah. Me too Jushirou."

Shunsui gazed up into the sky and across the deceptively peaceful looking Seireitei and the surrounding rukongai. The calm before the storm. The clouds passed overhead, and the sun shone down on the two of them. The world looked completely oblivious to what was coming, but he knew. Jushirou, Retsu, and all of the other captains knew.

War was coming, and the soutaichou's orders today had cemented that reality.

He needed a drink.

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><p>Ginrei Kuchiki sat at his desk, and toiled away at the paper work in front of him. For once though, he found it hard to concentrate. He supposed it was alright for this one instance, considering what had come to light earlier that day at the meeting.<p>

Rebellion. A civil war.

Who would have imagined it?

He put down his pen, recognizing that with his thoughts in such disarray he'd get little work done.

What was he to do?

His thoughts turned to his son Sojun, and worry immediately followed them. His son's sickness was steadily worsening, and he couldn't have him retire from the Gotei 13. Sojun wouldn't want to as it was, but even if he wanted to he couldn't. Sojun was meant to take up his place as the Kuchiki clan head, and with that being the case he needed to be a shinigami.

From the way things were going though, that wasn't looking very promising. Sojun would never retire voluntarily, out of a desire to not disappoint him, but Sojun couldn't see that Ginrei cared very little if his son became the clan head. He'd be far happier if he was alive and safe, and able to carry on the Kuchiki name by having heirs, not dead on one of the coming battlefields. With a war on the near horizon…things were going from bad to worse.

Suddenly, Ginrei felt a heat pass over his office, and he felt a sharp spike in reiatsu from the first division. He idly noted that Kenpachi Kiganjo was probably getting his reprimand. Good, the lumbering idiot deserved it.

A soft knock at the door to his office heralded his expected visitor, and a glance at the clock told Ginrei that he was 7 minutes early. Perfect.

The door opened and his visitor stepped inside, and bowed upon approaching his desk. "Kuchiki-taichou, I have come as ordered."

Ginrei nodded, and motioned for him to rise, "Yes, good, I'm glad you came. Do you know why you are here?"

The visitor shook his head, "No sir, I do not, although I have an idea. I'm assuming it has something to do with the recent rumors that are circulating."

Ginrei leaned back, "Well…yes and no. You are partially correct. The Soutaichou has ordered that we are to prepare for open conflict should the unrest lead to rebellion, so my decision about you stems partially from that. Although, your own actions and achievements were the deciding factor in my decision."

The visitor inclined his head, "Decision, sir?"

Ginrei nodded, "Yes, I've decided to promote you to the position of 3rd seat. My son already holds the position of lieutenant so 3rd seat is the highest I can give to you, but I'm sure that is adequate."

His new 3rd seat's jaw dropped open for a moment and he stared wide eyed at Ginrei. He recovered after a second before hastily bowing again, "Thank you so much Kuchiki-taichou. I am undeserving of such an honor."

Ginrei nodded his head, "I am glad to see you have humility in the face of your promotion. Hopefully, that humility will stay with you in the coming times. Do not let your new position, or the strength that earned it, go to your head. You are dismissed."

The new 3rd seat rose, and with a broad smile on his face turned to leave. As he reached the door however, Ginrei called out to him again.

"One more thing before you go. Do remember that in all things going forward you must represent the Kuchiki clan in a positive light Koga. You must be a good example to all who follow you, do you understand? I will not have you tarnish our family name."

Kuchiki Koga nodded once more, and answered back, "Of course. I understand perfectly. I promise that I will not disappoint you…father."

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><p><strong>Author's note cont: Right so. I'm sure that most of you will have realized what's going on with this, and if you watched the filler arcs then you'll know that guy. Assuming all of that is the case...well you should hopefully see that stuff stuff is coming. <strong>

**A little bit about me for all of you reading, I watched the full anime, as in the non-canon filler arcs and all, and I've read the manga all the way up to the last chapter that came out. How bout that 'almighty' eh? Anyway, I know a lot you out there are probably thinking, "awww why is he including those annoying filler arcs? They aren't even canon." Well folks...I'm sorry. I honestly kinda liked those arcs, and besides, what you will read here in my fic will be VERY different from the anime story with lots of other new tidbits and stuff stuffs going on. **

**Ichigo's new ability. Weeeellllllllll for some reason I feel like you guys won't like it...but hey it fits in a way, sort of, maybe not, whatever. If you read the manga you'll know that I wasn't spewing total bullshit with that shadow thing. I've always had a fascination with shadows...and characters that could melt into the shadows all cool like...and with Ichigo now taking on the role of the hand in the dark guiding the future toward the light, I think it fits. If you look up the concept behind the quincy stronghold that had been formed in the shadows of the seireitei through reishi manipulation, you can see that Ichigo doing it small scale isn't that far fetched. Besides...I like it...sorry.**

**Another thing. I apologize in advance, but I will be breaking canon sometimes. I'm trying to keep it as accurate as I possibly can, but well...I'm no bleach expert. **

**I've had some people ask me about Ichigo's zanpakuto, (example a. of canon breaks) and here's the explanation...there isn't one. I know that he's supposed to get an asauchi and all that, but well I just sort of wrote it like that you know? I kinda sorta rolled with it. Hopefully that isn't a huge problem for everyone. **

**BIG IMPORTANT INFORMATION: The pairing. Alrighty guys, you know that it wasn't going to get you anywhere by asking me. I'm not gonna tell you who Ichigo ends up with. I mean come on. That wouldn't be fun. However, I will give you tidbits of info. First, I don't dig yaoi. No offense to you yaoi lovers, you guys go right ahead I have nothing against it, but it's not my thing you know? Second, I love rukia. I don't love Ichiruki. I don't ship that, and it's an overused plot anyway. Finally, the pairing is going to come out of NOWHERE. YOU WILL NOT EXPECT IT AND I WILL LAUGH FOR 7 YEARS WHEN IT HAPPENS.**

**Lastly, I want to once again thank cywscross for her work. She is ****magnificent, and I can't ever give her enough credit. If it wasn't for her work and inspiration you all wouldn't be reading this. **

**Anyway, thanks again for reading everyone. I really enjoy writing this, and I'd honestly still be doing it even if I wasn't posting it here, but by posting it here I'm given the opportunity to share it with all of you. Through sharing it I am able to drown in the absolute happiness that comes from all of your nice feedback in your reviews. So please, you don't have to. Honestly, it's cool if you don't, but if you want to leave a review feel free. I love them. Not sure when ch.8 will be out, but I've already started working on it so hold onto your asses folks. The ride is about to start. Til next time!**


	8. Recompense

**Disclaimer - I do not own anything from Bleach**

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><p>Warnings: AU, Time Travel, Ichigo-centric, violence, language<p>

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><p><strong>Author's note: PLEASE READ THIS PART. Alrighty everyone. I must warn you before you start this. This is graphic. VERY graphic. I apologize, but if there are any of you out there who don't think you can handle it then I highly suggest you turn back now. It's rated M...but I thought I'd give you an extra warning. The world is an ugly place after all. More at the bottom, some explanations to questions. <strong>

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><p>Chapter 8: Recompense<p>

The clinging damp hung in the air and wet the rocks throughout the caves. A light wind carried throughout the open space from the mouth, shuffling papers and signifying that there was indeed a way out of this large network of underground passages and naturally formed caves. Torches flickered lazily from their clamped positions on the walls, all spread out at intervals for the optimum amount of light in the rooms and tunnels, and they revealed the abundance of barrels and crates stacked high in numerous directions. Weapons were there too, all in scattered stacks or leaning against walls. Some even had blood on them already.

Men and women of every shape and size hurried back and forth throughout the passages. Some were shinigami, deserters who had abandoned their former divisions, some out of loyalty to their past friends, some for family, and some simply out of anger. Some were shinigami of the past, similar in nature to what Ichigo had lied about being. In the life of a shinigami within the Gotei 13 you either lived long enough to be a captain, or you died a gruesome death along the way. A very small percentage of them actually retired, and those few took the money they'd earned within the Gotei and started businesses and opened up shops within the districts. Now though, they too had had enough, and had willingly taken up their zanpakuto's again, eager to finally put an end to the oppression.

Others had come as well, men and women of ill repute. Once upon a time bandits, or even just wandering swordsmen from the outer wilds who had come to lend their aide. It wasn't just the near districts and the shinigami who were fed up with the nobles, but of course some of them probably only saw this as a chance to make a profit. Looters of the battlefields, or even potential sackers of noble houses. If they did succeed, then there would be grand riches to be pillaged from those estates.

Some were simple folk. Wives of the warriors, or people who weren't fit to fight but capable in other areas such as cooking or in the art of medicine. Everyone wanted to lend a hand. Few if any of them knew healing kido, they lacked the spiritual energy to use it, but they still practiced their own methods.

They all scurried back and forth through the tunnels, rushing this way and that with their own errands, but here in a side passage there was a woman. She leaned over a table with maps strewn across it, and on either side of her at least a dozen men and women stood. All of them were armed, and each kept a vigilant eye on the shadows around, and on the two entrances to the small area of the cave they were in. They all knew the Onmitsukido were looking for them, and they had to protect their leader at all costs.

"Where can I find Seishūin Kaname?" Ichigo asked in a quiet voice in the hushed cave.

Several of the armed guards started in surprise, and they all turned to face where the voice had come from. There, leaning against a wall, someone stood casually between two of the other guards shrouded entirely in black.

There was no entrance near him, and all around him guards were standing keeping watch.

The guards next to him jumped away with shouts of surprise, and everyone drew their weapons with hushed whispered questions to each other. 'What the hell?' 'How the hell did he get in here?' 'Who is that guy? An assassin?' They all slowly closed in to form a loose half-circle around him, angry yet wary.

One burly man stepped forward and hefted his sword to point at the stranger, "Who the hell are ya? How did ya get in here? Answer quickly!"

Ichigo didn't stir from his position as he answered, "Now that's not right. I asked my question first."

The burly man sneered, "Ya think I care? From how I sees it, you're surrounded, and if ya don't answer my questions ya aren't gonna make it out of this cave alive."

Ichigo sighed.

Really? Was that how they wanted it?

Ichigo pushed off the wall and stood up straight, and promptly disappeared. Suddenly, they all jumped when the two metal gates that connected this room to the two adjacent ones both slammed shut. The resounding sound of metal clicking into place was like a gunshot.

Ichigo materialized again unarmed, and then in the blink of an eye a katana rested in his hand. Several of the warriors jumped a bit, obviously spooked. None of the occupants of the cave had even seen him go for his sword.

"Well…from the way I see it. There are about 12 or 13 of you. I'm just one guy with a sword, but know this. I'm very good with my sword. _Very_ good. If you do decide to attack me, which I wouldn't condone, just saying, someone's gonna die. I may die, but so will several of you. Maybe even half of you." Ichigo looked around the small cave, "We're in a cramped space, one of my sword swings would be very difficult to dodge in here. So how about this? We all just put down our weapons, and be friendly. No need to be antagonistic when I don't want to hurt anyone."

He knew he could kill all of them of course, but he felt that if he said that they'd think he was bluffing. No need for that nonsense. Best to just threaten them with a subtle hint at randomized death. They'd have to decide who died, by choosing who came at him first, and that was a hard decision to make.

The burly guy blinked, and for a moment looked unsure of himself, but it disappeared the next second as he growled out a challenge.

"If ya think for a minute that you're gonna scare me then ya have another thing coming, now answer my questions or else I'll gut ya here and now."

Ichigo rolled his eyes, but the others never saw it under his hood. Well, at least he'd tried to avoid it. He wouldn't kill them, but he needed to speak with the woman at the end of the room so he'd just…incapacitate them. Make them have a sit down and think about their life decisions.

When he didn't say anything in response the burly man growled again, hefted his sword over his head and lunged.

Ichigo took a second to look at him. An assessing look.

Amateurish. He had his arms high, sword up and behind his head moving to cleave Ichigo in half. He'd jumped, making it practically impossible to maneuver, although these tight quarters made that difficult as it was. His gut was wide open.

There.

The second ended. Ichigo kicked.

The larger man's eyes bulged, and his sword fell from his hands to clatter on the stone floor as he sailed away. He blasted back across the room in a straight trajectory heading for the far wall, and his men hastily dodged as he shot across the room. He slammed bodily into the rock, and he slid down to slump there in a sitting position on the floor. Dust broke loose from the roof, and flitted down after the heavy impact.

The fool was out cold.

Ichigo coughed quietly and continued, "Right. Now then. Any of you feel like taking another shot at it?"

They all backed up out of fear, and the uncertain expressions on most of their faces gave Ichigo hope that he wouldn't have to beat them all up. That hope shattered though when another piped up.

"C-come on everyone, it's just one guy! If we rush him all at once then there's no way he'll be able to get any of us."

Another spoke next, "Yeah! Everyone at once! We can't let him hurt our leader!"

Ichigo cocked an eyebrow, "Oh? So that is Seishūin Kaname then eh? Thanks for the information."

The one who spoke's expression soured, but he kept talking, "That information won't help you in a jail cell, or if you're dead. Come on everyone let's get him!"

Ichigo sighed again. He kind of expected it to turn out like this, but part of him had hoped that it wouldn't be too much of a problem. It looked like it would be.

The group all raced forward.

Ichigo sprang into action. He flung his katana straight forward like a throwing knife, and it sailed end over end straight through the group. The group divided as they jumped to the side, all desperate to get out of the swords path, and they watched as it embedded itself halfway into the rock face across the room. Several of them starting laughing at seeing it there, thinking the foolish intruder had just disarmed himself in a failed attempt to kill one of them, but upon looking back they all started in surprise. The laughing stopped.

Ichigo was gone.

In the next second, one of them slumped to the floor unconscious. Then another. And another.

Now they were scared. They all started shouting and shoving to move away from the center of the room, and one of them even ran for one of the gates.

The shout from him of, "Damn it! It's locked!" shot ice through several of their hearts.

Ichigo dropped out of shunpo in the center of the room again, and he reached up to beckon them on.

"Come on now everyone, wasn't this what you wanted?"

He sprinted at them, and in the next second he was among them. They came swinging at him from several directions, but he dropped beneath them and lanced out with a low kick that floored a few. He popped back up and slammed an uppercut into the jaw of one on the way, and his victim flew back into another of his comrades. Ichigo dodged another swipe to the neck, and spun away into a jump kick that crashed into another's head. He vanished into shunpo disappearing and materializing behind one of the more distant ones. Three strikes, one to the kidney, one to the side, and a final one to the ear sent him careening away to slide sideways along the rock.

6 guards were left standing, several of whom had just righted themselves after he'd floored them, and before they had the chance to regroup Ichigo took off again. He blurred and lodged a foot into the stomach of one, and as he keeled over Ichigo bent his head a fraction to narrowly dodge another sword. Ichigo's hand shot out like a lance, and he grasped the attacker's shirt in his fist. A second later the guard was flung bodily into another guard who had charged to their aid, and both tumbled and fell in a heap on the floor.

Ichigo turned to the other three, and they were comically shoving each other to the front to try and create a barrier individually. Ichigo shook his head, what the hell were they doing?

All it served was further embarrassment.

Ichigo vanished again and appeared in front of two of them. He grabbed each by the ear and cracked their heads together, knocking them out, and a punch to the nose later send the third's head into the rock wall behind him. The bounce of skull on stone made an unsettling sound, and he too slumped to the floor.

He turned to the last two, an older woman and a man, both armed to the teeth. One came desperately running for him, and Ichigo dodged around the swing in a spin. He kept spinning and swung his leg around into the gut of the other, bending her over his leg with its force. He snatched the one that attacked him, lifted him bodily up and over himself, and threw him down in a slam into the still bent form of the other. They both collapsed, the one underneath out cold, and Ichigo stepped forward, knelt, and cold clocked the final one with a punch to the nose knocking him out.

Ichigo stood, dusted off his hands, and surveyed the carnage. 13 bodies lay strewn around the cave, all in various positions.

None of them were dead.

Ichigo nodded his head. Good. He was glad that had been taken care of. He turned to face the last occupant of the room, the woman at the table.

She still hadn't stopped surveying her maps, and hadn't looked up once during the whole ordeal.

Ichigo cocked an eyebrow, and the corners of his mouth threatened to turn up. Shiro laughed away in his inner-world, _**"Haha, that's an interesting one there! Can we keep her?!"**_

Ichigo ignored the voice of his hollow, and stalked across the room to stand opposite the woman on his own side of the table.

"Seishūin Kaname."

The woman ignored him for a moment longer before she stood up straight, and removed her hood. She reached up and brushed aside a stray lock of midnight hair, and Ichigo was given a clear look at her face.

She was pretty he noted, beautiful even. Pitch black hair cascaded from the crown of her head, and left several stray locks to part on either side of her face, framing it. She was lightly tanned and taller than most, but not nearly as tall as him. It was difficult to reach his height for anyone. High cheek bones set in an aristocratic fashion rested beneath her eyes, and those themselves were a deep forest green. Supple lips completed the picture, and they parted as she spoke.

"I apologize," she said, and Ichigo noted that it was a strong voice, but also a tad sensual. She gestured with a hand at the slumped figure of the man that had started the fight, "For Godou there. He hasn't quite learned his manners yet."

"Then why didn't you stop him?" Ichigo enquired in an annoyed tone.

She flashed a sly grin, "Well…maybe I haven't learned mine either."

She scooped up the maps and walked away to return them to their cases, and Ichigo spied that she possessed a lithe and beautiful figure in addition to the beauty of her face. She continued speaking as she walked away.

"I wanted to see if you were worth my time."

"And if they had killed me?"

She glanced back with another sly look, "Then you obviously wouldn't have been worth my time," she started putting away the maps, "You are no basic recruit to our cause, or else you wouldn't have come to see me. I don't think you are an assassin…but I know you have been looking for me."

She stood and paused before turning back to him, arms crossed, "The Onmitsukido is searching for me, that much I can know for sure. It would be foolish for them not to be. However…I've been hearing from my informants out in the districts that another lone man was looking for me. A swordsman of unknown intent or origin. It was unknown if he was a shinigami or not, and he had been seen searching the districts, asking too many questions in bars, and mentioning my name. I know now that that man was you, you have found me and you are indeed a shinigami…now all that's left to know is…"

"What I want with you," Ichigo supplied.

She nodded, "Exactly, but a name would also be appreciated."

Ichigo shook his head, "Not yet, I don't know you."

"Oh? But you know my name," she chided, but she let it go, "Oh well, be that way then. What do you want?"

"I came to warn you. You already know that the Onmitsukido is after you, but that's not what I'm here for really," Ichigo took a step closer, and his voice was heavy laden with earnest sincerity, "You need to stop this Seishūin-san. What you are doing here needs to end. You are leading these people to their deaths."

Kaname laughed and turned away, "Was that all you came to tell me? I can't help but feel disappointed."

Ichigo grabbed her arm, and turned her back to face him. His stare bore holes in her.

"What is it you want? I don't want you to go through with this, so tell me. Why are you doing this to these people?"

Anger colored her features and she yanked her arm free.

"I am doing nothing to these people! They came to me! The ones you should be looking at are those horrible nobles. They are the ones doing anything to them. To us."

Ichigo quieted for a moment to watch her face before starting again, "Fine. That's not what I meant though. I want to know what your motive is. Everyone can see where this is going, and you are going to start a war. A war that you will surely lose. Why? Is it truly out of simple anger?"

Her pretty features dimmed into a scowl, "Our anger is not simple…and they crossed a line. A line that no one should ever cross."

She turned away again, and her voice lost some of its anger as she calmed down, "The Noble families…they are rich. They have great wealth, but that is not what I want. I wouldn't touch any of that money. It is tainted. That wealth is born from crimes and horrors, and I highly doubt that any of the families are wholly innocent. They extort, suppress, and steal from the districts as if they own us. I say, enough. No more. We will go to war if that is what it takes. In my mind and in the minds of my followers, it is far better to die on your feet than to live on your knees."

Ichigo shook his head, "No Seishūin-san, you are wrong. It is better to live on your feet, than to die on your knees. If you go to war you will die on your knees, and nothing will be able to save you or these people."

She looked back, "We have no choice."

Ichigo shook his head again, and his hood swayed, "There is always a choice."

She tisk'd and looked away. Ichigo took another step closer, "What did they do Seishūin-san? There is something you aren't telling me. What is it?"

Her shoulders ticked up an inch.

Ah. He'd hit a nerve.

He didn't like where this was going.

"You said before that they'd crossed a line. What was it?"

Another inch up. His suspicions were starting to look a lot more correct. He dreaded them being correct.

"Tell me."

She spun and lashed out with a strike to his throat.

He caught her open palm, but she yanked it free and launched into shunpo. Ichigo blinked in surprise. A shinigami then. She was moving fast, but not fast enough for his eyes to lose. She came in from behind him in a kick aiming for his head, and he duck under the leg only to snatch it out of the air. He swung her around and slammed her down into the table that had once held the maps, and it collapsed beneath her in a crash of wood and dust.

She slammed into the ground, and Ichigo planted his knee on her chest to pin her down. He saw her hand flash, and he caught the dagger she'd fished out that came sailing for his knee. He disarmed her and threw it away into the shadows.

She kept writhing, but nothing she could do would move him. Suddenly, her hand ignited with the forming of reiatsu, and he heard the quiet chanting of a kido spell. His hand lanced out and caught her throat, effectively cutting off her ability to speak and breaking the chant stopping the spell. The small amount of reiatsu she'd gathered dispersed in the ensuing quiet.

"If you do that I can promise you it won't kill me. It might kill you though, and a fair amount of the people in these caves if it were to start a cave in. So please. Don't do that."

The anger and subtle despair she was drowning in, (he idly wondered where the despair came from) abated after a few moments, and after she was calm gave him a nod.

He released her throat, but didn't remove his knee. In a quiet voice, trying to be gentle about it, he voice his question again.

"Please Seishūin-san. Tell me what happened."

Her eyes flashed in warning, and emotions swirled in her green orbs. Anger at being forced into the position she was in, and also so many other unexplained things. The despair from before was one of them…and fear.

She calmed herself, but her eyes still showed everything to him. She didn't move to speak.

"I can help you. Just tell me what's wrong."

She blinked up at him, and a new emotion joined the mess of others. Fragile hope maybe?

"Yo-you'll help me?"

Ichigo sighed. This wasn't looking good at all, and this was frankly bordering the point where he would have said fuck it and left…but those eyes kept him there. They spoke of loss. Loss he could identify with. It was a loss that only came from one particular place.

Ichigo shook his head, "I won't fight your war Seishūin-san, but I don't think that is what you really want help with anyway."

She closed her eyes and gulped down a breath of air to steady her nerves, "I didn't think you would, you don't seem like the type," she opened them again, "Fine. I'll tell you. Let me up."

Ichigo waited a moment longer, but under her expectant stare finally relented. He stood and she climbed to her feet, ignoring the hand he extended to help her.

She crossed her arms, and eyed him shrewdly for a moment longer before speaking, "They took someone, my sister. I'm going to get her back."

Ichigo cocked an eyebrow, but inside his organs were turning to ice, "Took her?"

She nodded, "Yes…I was in the Onmitsukido. That's how they haven't been able to track me. I know how to avoid them. Anyway, I joined so I could earn a pay check. I needed it to support her and myself. We'd been starving, so it was the only alternative…but one day, when I went to visit her in the southern 57th she was gone. Along with several dozen other women."

The ice grew colder, "Go on."

The anger and despair was growing again, "I did some digging. Wasn't particularly hard for someone like me. I managed to figure out who led the men who took her, and from there I found out he was working for a minor noble family. The Oda family to be exact, led by Kirigaya Oda. I'm sure you can imagine why they took those women, along with several other groups of women in different districts. I'm sure you can imagine why they've been doing it for years. I'm sure you can imagine how they've crossed a line that should never be crossed."

She turned away, "It's like I said. I wouldn't want anything to do with their wealth. It is tainted. All I want are their heads…and my sister back. These wrongs need to be righted, and each and every one of my followers agrees with me. We've all got our own personal tragedies, but we won't keep letting it slide anymore."

Ichigo was silent as the grave. His hands were clenched in a white knuckle grip, and his jaw was so firmly clamped his teeth strained under his attempt to control himself.

She was right.

He wouldn't let it slide anymore either.

"I'll get your sister back…and I'll set those women free," She spun to face him, and her expression shattered, his own rage started flowing into his voice, "As for Kirigaya Oda. _You won't be hearing his name for very much longer."_

He turned away and walked across the room, she called out to him and he paused.

"Her name is Misuzu."

He didn't look back, and he didn't even nod. He kept walking after a moment, and reached up to wrench his blade out of the wall as he passed it. She watched as he walked clean into the opposite wall only to vanish before her eyes.

She blinked at the shadow on the wall in confusion.

* * *

><p>Satoru sat at his desk, with his thoughts in turmoil. The evening sun shone in from the side, and it sank ever lower as sunset approached. His cup of tea had long since gone cold, and the paperwork in front of him lay untouched even though he'd been in his office for hours.<p>

He'd lied in that captains meeting, and to the head captain. Seishūin Kaname wasn't just some random woman.

What was he going to do?

Nothing he could do would find Kaname. He'd done everything he knew to do, but no information would help locate her. She knew how to hide. He knew she did. He'd trained her of course, so it only stood to reason that she'd be able to outsmart any of his men while blindfolded. Not to mention the rukongai was far too vast, and the citizens of it were all apparently dead set on keeping her location a secret.

He should have listened to her, and now that he hadn't there was a war on their hands with her leading it.

It wasn't like there was much he could have done anyway. He had no evidence against the Oda, and therefore couldn't move to help her. He didn't blame her for going out on her own, leaving her resignation paperwork on his desk in the middle of the night, but part of him wished he could have stopped her. Reasoned with her.

Saved her.

There was nothing for it. Skirmishes were already popping up all over the place between the loyal shinigami, and the rebels who refused to submit to arrest. People were dying over this. Over greed. Over horrible crimes that had no purpose. Over a civil war that hadn't needed to happen.

Desertions were still happening too, sometimes right in the middle of those skirmishes, and the number was climbing. If this kept up, and a peaceful resolution wasn't reached, then thousands would die.

Because of another noble family.

He couldn't call them that. There was nothing noble about them. He hadn't known the scope of their depravity, but it made him question his competence as the head of the Onmitsukido. For him not to have known…it made him sick. It brought him shame to know that another house was doing these things.

It brought him shame that there wasn't anything he could do about it.

He couldn't conduct an investigation without approval from Central 46, and they'd never permit it. He'd be thrown out, laughed at, and the Shihouin clan would be made to look foolish. As the head of the Onmitsukido he had more reach than the entire Gotei 13 itself, and even he couldn't do anything.

Poor Kaname. His heart ached knowing what was going on. She was one of his own, and he wanted to help her. He really, honestly, truly didn't blame her for it…but he still wished things had been different.

He knew that if he was in her shoes, and if say…Tindra had been taken? There would be hell to pay.

So no. He didn't blame her.

He only hoped she got her sister back safe and sound, or else there would be no stopping her from burning the Oda clan to the ground.

* * *

><p>Far into the plains and hill country of the eastern rukongai, a battle was being waged. Shinigami loyal to the Gotei 13 clashed with rebel shinigami soaking the grassy hills with blood. Several hundred were gathered, at least one hundred to each side, and the battle cries and their accompanying screams of terror carried on the heavy wind. Swords met over and over, desperate anger meeting cooled loyalty, and they fought on in support of their clashing differences. People were dying, and the smell of iron from the spilt blood, retching, and fecal matter permeated the air.<p>

The heat rose, along with the heat of the battle, but slowly the loyalists gave ground.

On a nearby rocky crag facing the battlefield two figures stood unharmed and observing. One, Kuchiki Ginrei, stood clad in his taichou's haori along with his Kuchiki clan scarf. Beside him, the young Kuchiki Koga stood clad in his own deep red scarf and a kenseikan with a red feather-like protrusion.

Ginrei observed the battle closely, watching as the shinigami below clashed, and he could see clearly how the battle was progressing. It concerned him.

He withdrew the scarf from over his mouth so that he could speak to his 3rd seat, "We seem to be outnumbered. The rebel forces are growing daily. Have you thought of how we should proceed?"

Koga halted his own concerned observation, and his anticipation of his chance to join the battle rose with each passing second. He wanted to be down there. He desired battle, if for no other reason than to prove himself to his father-in-law next to him. This war was his big chance to shine, and to gain honor for the Kuchiki clan with his accomplishments.

He glanced over at Ginrei, "There's no time to come up with a plan. I'm going down there."

He made to lunge down to the hills below, but his father-in-law's words stopped him, "Don't be rash. This is war. It can't be waged by one person."

He paused to withdraw the scarf from his mouth, and he eyed the captain next to him with growing concern. Did his father-in-law not think he could handle the task before them? He'd made him his 3rd seat so why was he keeping him from moving in?

"That's true, but we both know that if I don't do something we're likely to lose the battle…Your reaction seems odd father."

Ginrei shot a look at the young shinigami next to him, and he reprimanded him sternly, "Koga, in battle you will address me appropriately."

Koga blinked in realization of his mistake and at the reprimand before bowing toward the captain, "My apologies Kuchiki-taichou. I'll be going then."

With that he jumped off the cliff and soared through the air toward the battle below. Behind him, Ginrei shook his head and sighed in exasperation at his son-in-law's reckless actions.

"Always willing to rush headlong into danger."

Ginrei sincerely hoped that that behavior wouldn't stay with the boy for long. He'd need to learn restraint if he were to become a proper Kuchiki, and that attitude would need to be curbed if he ever hoped to be able to take his place as the head of the clan. With Sojun becoming a less than viable option, it was starting to look like Koga would be his best choice.

Koga needed to learn proper control, or else Ginrei feared something drastic would come if he didn't.

Down below, Koga came crashing down into the thick of the battle, and a crater in the sloping hillside marked his arrival. Dust kicked up and blocked clear vision, and many of the surrounding shinigami wheezed and coughed in the thick screen of airborne dirt. Shouts started sounding, panicked questions, and blind screams filled the air, and slowly the dust cloud cleared away.

They laid eyes on him.

'Who is that?!' 'Is that a Kuchiki?' 'Look! He's wearing a kenseikan, he's a noble!' 'Kill him! He's the enemy!' 'Let's rush him everyone!'

Koga drew his sword and a blast of his purple reiatsu cleared the remaining dust. The reiatsu kept climbing and it started to intimidate the surrounding rebels. Several of them started to panic, but more rallied.

Koga spoke up and addressed the surrounding crowd, "You will curse your misfortune for having ever laid eyes on this sword."

'Don't be intimidated, he's just one man, that's all! Let's all rush him!'

The shinigami rallied again despite Koga's words, and they charged with a resounding battle cry.

Koga smiled slightly in anticipation. Good. Let them come. He'd prove his strength today, and none would leave here alive.

In a hushed tone he recited his shikai release, "Whisper, Muramasa."

Purple reiatsu exploded on the hillside, and a wave of purple energy poured out of him and shot out in a wide circle through the surrounding men. More screams of terror followed.

Kuchiki Koga said one final word.

"Die."

Blood ran red on the hillside, and the world bore witness once again to the horrors of war.

* * *

><p>Ichigo dropped out of shunpo in a tree on the outskirts of the Oda compound, and the cover of night hid his presence from the guards patrolling the grounds below him. It had been a few days since his conversation with Kaname, and in that time he'd been searching for a way to get to the Oda. Annoyingly enough, it looked like his shadow manipulation wouldn't let him go through the walls surrounding the Seireitei. They were effective if nothing else. So he'd had to do it the old fashioned way, and wait it out. It had taken longer than normal since the Seireitei was basically on full alert, and the gates had only opened and closed when shinigami had to go through. No wagons or other such things were allowed in for the time being.<p>

Ichigo tried to see through the darkness as best he could, but nothing came of it. It was far too dark out for him to see anything but the lit up mansion in the distance, so he closed his eyes.

Golden eyes flashed behind his closed eyelids, and seconds later a pulse shot out of Ichigo and spread out over the whole compound. His pesquisa resonated with several dozen signatures of varying strength, and it picked up even more souls than those in the yard. He could sense several hundred souls within the estate, but only those few dozen possessed large amounts of reiatsu. Those must be the guards then, and the rest were probably servants, family members, and…the women.

Ichigo's hands clenched in anger, and his eyes opened to show that the gold had once again replaced the brown.

This was monstrous.

They would pay.

His eyes remained hollowfied, night vision was always welcome, and he dropped down from the tree to land in a crouch in the yard. He'd kill all of them. Not the family itself maybe, but the guards. They'd all undoubtedly taken part, and he'd need to kill them if the women were to escape unharmed.

Kirigaya would die, painfully, that much was a given.

He vanished into shunpo, and the reaping began.

* * *

><p>Ichigo walked up the steps to the front door with his katana and wakizashi in both of his hands, and he kicked the front door lightly as if knocking. Blood dripped down his arms and blades onto the paved steps, and that smoldering anger from before was back again in full strength.<p>

Earlier, when he'd happened upon a couple of the guards along the fence line conversing, he'd listened in on them. It had only served to anger him further, and make their deaths more certain.

They'd been talking about it, joking about it, _laughing about it_. Claiming they'd had a 'good haul' and that they couldn't wait to 'get their hands on them.'

They'd died moments later, one headless, and the other with a blade through his chest cavity. They wouldn't be getting their hands on anyone.

Now for the man of the house.

A slat in the front door opened, and a man peered out into the dark at him.

"Do you have an invitation?"

It took the man a moment, but when his eyes adjusted to the dark and he got a clear view of Ichigo and his current appearance his eyes widened in panic, and the slat slammed shut. The sound of multiple locks clinking into place followed.

Ichigo huffed.

Like a door would stop him.

He planted his foot in the door with the force of a freight train, and it blasted off its hinges and down the hall behind it to slide to a stop before a grand staircase. Dust and debris was left in its wake, and the front of the house reverberated with the force of the kick. He paused for a moment before crossing the threshold, and a glance to his left spied the man who'd been behind the door. He was an older grey haired man dressed like a butler, a servant then, and the look on his face was…comical in a way. Although, anyone who'd just had a door blast off its hinges right in front of you, narrowly passing by you, and almost taking your life would have an expression like that.

Ichigo's hand shot out and he grabbed the butler by the throat, lifted him bodily from the ground, and slammed him into the wall behind him. The air left the butler's lungs, and his eyes shot wide as he struggled to breath. Ichigo placed his sword gingerly against the butler's neck in a subtle threat of deep laceration.

In the calmest voice he could manage, Ichigo asked, "Where is Oda Kirigaya?"

The butler blinked at him several times in panic, and Ichigo realized a moment later that the man couldn't talk with how hard he was choking him. He let up a bit, and the butler wheezed out, "He's on the top floor sir, I'll lead you to him."

Ichigo cocked an eyebrow at the man, why was he jumping at the chance to betray his master?

"Why so eager?"

The butler scowled and he struggled to speak again, "He doesn't pay me."

Ichigo dropped him, and the man fell to his knees to wheeze and cough for a moment before he struggled to climb to his feet.

"Then why do you work for him?"

The butler's eyes flashed as he rubbed his throat, just like Kaname's eyes had, and Ichigo's resolve hardened. So that's how it was eh?

"Ah, I see. Well then let's get a move on. No one's going to be saved just standing here. Lead the way."

The butler nodded and ran a few steps before faltering, he looked back and warily asked, "Uhh…what do you intend to do?"

"What do you think?"

The butler's eyes strayed down to the bloody blades in his hands, and trepidation surfaced on his face. However, in the next second it was gone, and the butler nodded again, "Good…do-…do you mind if I watch?"

Ichigo blinked at him, "You sure you want to?"

The butler nodded again, but the uncertainty was still there.

"Yes, I-I want that man to pay. He has my daughter, and I want to watch him suffer for holding her captive like this for so long."

Ichigo nodded his understanding, but kept questioning him, "He will suffer, I promise you, but are you sure you want to watch? What will happen is not something you can un-see."

The butler nodded again, this time puzzlingly more sure of himself.

Ichigo grabbed his shoulder, "Alright, you can watch. What's your name?"

The butler blinked at him, "Uh-…Hayato."

Ichigo nodded and then nudged him in the direction of the stairs, "Alright then Hayato, let's get a move on."

They took off then, Ichigo trailing behind the butler, and they disappeared into the halls of the mansion.

* * *

><p>The butler came skidding to a halt at the end of a hallway on the third floor, and Ichigo stopped behind him. They both leaned forward to peer down the connecting hallway, and there standing before an open door stood two guards. Light streamed out of the open door, and they could both hear the sound of people conversing traveling down the hall.<p>

It had been a series of events that brought them there. As soon as they'd taken off down the first hallway they'd been greeted by a slew of guards that had come running when they'd heard the door get blasted. They'd each died in short order, but they'd continued to run into smaller groups of guards on the way to the third floor. The servants were all either hiding, or asleep, and Ichigo had tried to keep the noise of the slaughtering to a minimum. It was a blessing that the chamber they had come to was on the opposite side of the huge mansion, or else the cacophony would have alerted the master of the house.

The butler looked at him and whispered, "That's Kirigaya's chamber. That's where he does business, and where he receives guests. I recognize one of the voices as his."

Ichigo nodded and replied, "Stay back alright, keep behind me, and if you see any of the girls in there keep them with you. Keep them safe, and I'll deal with whoever else is in there. Do you have any kind of a weapon on you?"

The butler nodded, "I grabbed a knife on our way up here just in case…but…don't expect me to kill anyone."

Ichigo nodded. Hayato didn't need to worry about that. He'd kill enough for the both of them.

The guards stirred, and both turned to look in the direction of the approaching footsteps. Their eyes widened when they witnessed Ichigo sprinting at them with a blade in each hand. The closest one back pedaled while shouting in alarm and he went for his katana, but he didn't quite make it. Ichigo sprinted past him, and he sank to the floor grasping his gaping throat, trying and failing to stop the blood that poured out like a water fall.

The other man managed to draw his katana, but it did little good. Ichigo launched into a kick and slammed his foot into the side of the guard's head. He tumbled sideways into the room he'd been guarding, and Ichigo gave chase. Ichigo shunpoed into the room, caught the guard, and rammed his blade straight into the gut of his victim. The poor bastard gaped and started choking on his own blood, and he slowly slumped over the blade in Ichigo's hand as he died.

Ichigo surveyed the room. It was spacious and tiled, with windows along one side, and curtains drawn over them. Two doors were at the back of the room divided by a massive portrait of a black haired man wearing rich robes. It was ugly he noted, with the man being somewhat over weight, and having a bulbous nose. A desk was positioned below the portrait facing towards the door, with a huge chair behind it. Several more chairs were in front of it for guests, and a few couches lined the other walls.

Two men stood next to each other in the center of the room, and both blinking owlishly over at him in horror and surprise. One of them was identical to the man in the portrait, so Ichigo automatically assumed him to be Kirigaya Oda. The other was tall and lean with another head of black hair. He held a bag of something, probably money, in his hand. Next to them, kneeling on the floor was a semi-clothed woman.

She had chains on her ankles.

Ichigo saw red.

He kicked the man off of his katana, and the dead body slid across the tiles toward the three other occupants. Like a brushstroke it painted the floor red in a long smear of gore and blood.

He took a step forward, but halted when Kirigaya shoved the other man away and grabbed the kneeling girl. He produced a knife from somewhere and place it right up against her neck, and the barest drop of blood slid down the blade from where he came too close.

"One more step and her death will be on your head. Now…drop your weapons, and tell me who the hell you are."

Ichigo paid him no mind and instead locked eyes with the girl. There she stood, nearly identical to her sister in every way save for the tan and her eye color. Her's were gold instead of green, and they were drowning in fear. His rage soared to new heights.

He raised his wakizashi wielding hand in a placating gesture, and called out to her, "Relax Misuzu. Don't panic. It'll be alright, I'm here to help you. Your sister sent me…I won't let him hurt you."

Anger painted Kirigaya's features and he yanked the girl's hair back violently to better reveal her neck. She cried out in pain, and Kirigaya shouted at him, "This girl is my property! I'll hurt her if I damn well want to! Now drop your weapons, or I'll take her life! It belongs to me anyway."

Ichigo's grip tightened.

Ichigo had heard enough.

He dropped his swords and blasted into his quickest shunpo, making it fast enough to leave an after image in his place. He caught Kirigaya's hand in his own, crushed the bones in it, snapped the wrist and squeezed _hard._

The knife fell from his broken grasp, and he sank to his knees screaming in blinding pain. Ichigo grabbed the girl with his free hand, and tossed her bodily across the room to land on one of the couches. He kicked out Kirigaya's knee from under him making him collapse to the floor, and still holding onto the broken hand Ichigo placed his foot on the man's back and _twisted_.

The screaming became unholy as the arm snapped at the elbow, and the entire thing dislocated at the shoulder.

"No Kirigaya…You don't own her, or a single one of them…and you won't ever hurt any of them again."

Ichigo glanced over at the other individual, and he let Kirigaya's shattered limb drop. The other man was locked in place out of sheer horror, and Ichigo vanished over to his dropped blades to recover his wakizashi. He materialized in front of the unknown buyer scaring him out of his wits, kicked out his legs, and then brought his wakizashi plunging down to stab through the man's upper shoulder. The blade sheared through flesh and bone, and broke through the other side to keep sinking into the tiled floor. Ichigo kept pushing, and drove his shorter sword all the way down until the hilt rested against the man's shoulder. He'd missed all of the organs on purpose, and he stood up to glare down at the now screaming, crying buyer.

"Stay put. I'll deal with you next."

Ichigo looked back and saw Hayato over by Misuzu, and he called out to him, "Look after her Hayato. I'll be done in a bit…and…don't let her watch."

The butler nodded and covered her eyes, but his own kept right on watching in morbid fascination.

Ichigo turned back to Kirigaya, and the wretch was there kneeling and bent. He cradled his broken arm in the other, and he wailed in searing agony.

It wasn't enough though. Not yet. He needed more.

Ichigo lost himself to the blinding rage that coursed through his veins.

Ichigo blurred forward and slammed his foot into the jaw of the noble, shattering it, and blasting the sick runt across the tiles. He slid to a stop against one of the walls, and Ichigo materialized in front of him again.

"Stop making so much noise. It's pathetic."

The screaming kept up despite his words, but this time it was more muffled and gargled. A broken jaw does wonders. Blood dripped from the pig's mouth, and loose teeth dropped to bounce on the tile floor. Ichigo grabbed him by his collar, and hauled him up to look in his eyes.

They were red with tears.

He wanted them black.

He started punching.

A cheekbone shattered, along with a nose, and blood flowed down the broken face and onto Ichigo's raw knuckles.

It wasn't enough.

His aim grew wilder. Ribs started snapping, and internal bleeding cropped up.

It wasn't enough.

The legs came next, and the shouts of stop from Hayato fell on deaf ears.

It wasn't enough.

He threw the broken, unrecognizable clan head away from him, and the body crashed through the door and into one of the side rooms. Ichigo shunpoed after him…and stopped.

The smell hit him first, since the room was pitch black and he couldn't see.

Vomit, urine, blood, feces, the scent of iron and body odor. Each one invaded his nostrils and stung his eyes, and he blinked the tears away that flooded him because of the assaulting smells.

His eyes adjusted to the dark, and his bloodied hands fell to his sides. The rage dissipated for a moment, only to be replaced by complete, utter horror.

Oh no.

Ichigo fell to his knees, tears came un-beckoned for an entirely different reason than the smell. He tried his best to blink them away.

His fist clenched so tight his knuckles popped.

No.

Bile rose in his throat, and he vomited onto the cold, blood stained, stone floor. His stomach heaved, emptying its meager contents, and he was left gagging and dry heaving when there was nothing left.

He stared down the length of the room of horrors at the downed clan head, and came to a sudden realization.

It would _never_ be enough.

Nothing he could do to that man, would ever amount to the pain he'd inflicted in this one room.

To all of the women in the cells that lined the room. To all of the victims packed tight in those little barred cells. There was at least one hundred of them.

All of them stared at him wide-eyed. They were all bruised…bloodied…naked.

Ichigo climbed back to his feet while wiping the vomit from his mouth. He spat to best rid his mouth of the taste, and ignored the barely conscious clan head for the time being. He had other things to do that took precedence.

He needed to find the keys.

He stumbled away, and out into the first room. The butler came running over.

"Sir, are you…all…right?"

The butler's question trailed off into silence when he took one look at Ichigo's expression, and his own drained of blood in worry and fright. Hayato looked over Ichigo's shoulder into the room. His expression shattered.

"Oh dear God."

Ichigo came over to the desk and started rifling through the drawers, flinging the searched ones away behind him to shatter against the wall. Within the center drawer he found a massive key ring, and took it. He rushed back into the room, pushing back the reflex to gag again, and fumbled with the keys trying to find a key that fit the door.

There were dozens of keys though, and he wanted those poor women free _now_.

He threw the keys to Hayato, shunpoed out of the room again to grab his katana, and went to work. He sheared his blade straight through the metal lock of the first gate, and then practically ripped it off its hinges.

The women inside were silent the whole time, and several of them shied away from him out of fear. Instinctive fear.

Like cowering animals.

Ichigo fought to blink back his tears.

He turned to the stretching room and spoke to the women, "I'm setting you all free."

Those words seemed to register with them, but none of them smiled. They just sort of became more energized. The ones that were sitting started to stand up, and others started pressing themselves against the bars of their cells. Docile in a horrific way, and yet eager to be free.

He picked up where he left off, and kept wrenching the cell doors open violently.

The cells that he opened gradually emptied themselves as the women started filling up the room, and they huddled together to watch him.

He finished.

He turned back to the still breathing clan head.

The rodent was a mess. His crumbled form lay there half leaning against the wall he'd slid into. His face was a disfigured image, bones misplaced, and he looked…broken. He was wheezing in a gargled sort of way. Struggling to breath with the blood no doubt clogging his throat. It had probably already starting emptying into his lungs, and he'd drown in his own blood soon.

But for the time being though…he was still alive.

Good.

Ichigo knelt next to him, and the now blackened and swollen eyes of the monster found him.

"A-agh…a-are…you…goinghh…t-to kill…me?" he struggled to say with his broken jaw, and blood slipped from the corners of his mouth as he mumbled.

Ichigo stared at him in growing disgust, and he reached forward to grip the pathetic creature's hair. He pulled him close, close enough so he could speak into his ear, and then he whispered his response.

"No, I won't kill you."

Ichigo let him drop, and the clan head's skull bounced against the wall again.

A glimmer of hope was in the wretches' eyes.

Ichigo turned and spied Hayato holding his daughter, she was the only clothed one out of all of the women, and she appeared relatively unharmed. She was lucky.

He addressed the crowd of women.

"He's all yours."

He strode across the room, grabbed Hayato and his daughter by their elbows, and steered them out of the room. The women all watched him go, and they kept watching right up until he left the room and vanished out of sight.

The women turned back to Kirigaya.

* * *

><p>"Take care of them Hayato. Gather them up and find some clothes for them, there's bound to be plenty of spare clothing in this house…and feed them too. Get the rest of the servants in on it. If the family starts giving you problems then…you know what to do."<p>

The butler nodded, but his attention kept being dragged back to the room they'd just vacated, and the sounds that were coming from in there.

Ichigo snapped his fingers in Hayato's face to get his attention.

"Oi, did you hear me?"

The butler blinked at him in a startled manner before answering, "Ye-yes I did. I don't think we'll need to worry about the family though. This is a minor noble house, and they don't have lots of branches. Very few of them actually live here, except for the wife and kids. The kids should be innocent, but I don't know about the wife."

Ichigo nodded, "It's only one woman then. Don't let her get in the way. Tie her up if you have to."

Ichigo's follow-up pesquisa had assured him that all the guards were indeed dead. The butler nodded, and then something caught the man's eye. He looked at Ichigo and then gestured to over behind him. Ichigo turned and looked for what the butler was pointing at, and his eyes fell on the pinned man who had been a potential buyer.

Oh yeah.

Ichigo had forgotten about him.

Ichigo glanced between the pinned, bleeding, quietly mumbling buyer and the butler for a second before he said to Hayato, "Don't worry. I'll take care of him…just do as I asked please."

The butler nodded, thanked him, and then rushed off to get to work. Ichigo stalked over to the man on the ground.

He looked down at him for a moment, and that disgust from before rose up again. He knelt for a second beside him, before he swung his leg over and sat on the guy's stomach making him cough. The buyer blinked up at him through the haze of pain.

Ichigo spoke to him in a quiet voice, subdued even, and yet carrying an undertone of barely contained wrath.

"What's your name?"

The buyer lay there for a minute before pained mumbling reached Ichigo's ears.

"P-please don't kill me. Please don't kill me. Please don't kill me. Ple-"

Ichigo grimaced, how pathetic.

Ichigo planted a fist in his face, breaking his nose and making his skull bounce on the tile.

"I said, what's your name? I won't kill you if you cooperate."

The pathetic bastard's face scrunched up and he fought through the pain to talk, "You promise you won't kill me?"

Ichigo's patience was wearing thin.

Ichigo punched him again, "Your chances of making it out of this alive are dwindling by the second. Now start talking or you will die."

"F-fine, fine…my name is Erin Shiba."

Time stopped, along with Ichigo's heart.

What?

_What_?

Ichigo's fist came sailing down again, and this time he kept hitting.

"HOW DARE YOU!" he screamed, and he kept on pummeling the bastard's face.

After a few moments of pummeling Ichigo ripped the blade from the man's shoulder, ignoring the pained cry that accompanied it, and he hoisted him up and slammed him into the wall.

"HOW DARE YOU LIE TO MY FACE! DON'T YOU DARE TIE THAT NAME TO THIS!"

The guy was reeling, but he managed to stutter a response, "I-I-I'm not l-lying!"

Ichigo gripped the man's shirt tighter, and flung him across the room. He crashed into the desk, sending it careening into a wall. Ichigo was upon him in a second.

"Who else is involved?" he growled out, the guy stared at him with wild eyes, "I SAID WHO ELSE IS INVOLVED?!"

"N-no one! It's just me! I swear!"

Ichigo stared into his face, and his eyes bled into gold.

Terror danced in the man's eyes, and he gasped out in a panicked voice, "I swear that no one else in my family is involved! I promise! Really! They had nothing to do with it, and you don't need to hurt any of them! It was just me!"

After a few moments Ichigo's eyes went back to normal and his dark expression seemed to subside, but then in the next second it roared back to life again and he grabbed the man by his front. He lifted him up and slammed him down into the desk, sending the man to the ground and causing the desk to split in half. Cries of terror filled the room again.

"I-I thought you said you wouldn't kill me!"

Ichigo grabbed the man's head and wrenched it in a sharp twist. The sound of his neck breaking was sickening.

Ichigo stared down at the dead body.

"I lied."

The room was quiet again, and Ichigo eventually stood up and peered around the room until his eyes fell on Misuzu. She had been staring entranced throughout the whole event, and she started in fright when he laid his eyes upon her. He started to walk toward her, but stopped when she jumped up and made to run. He shunpoed to the door and closed it, and she fell back down onto the couch and scurried away from him, trying to put some distance between the two of them.

Ichigo put up his hands in a placating gesture, and then promptly hid them behind his back when he realized they were drenched in blood.

"I don't mean you any harm Misuzu. I promise. I'm here to come take you back to your sister."

That reminder, and the gentleness of his voice seemed to calm her down a bit, and she asked in a quaking tone, "Who are you?"

He fumbled for a second but answered, "I'm uhhh…a friend of Kaname's. She asked me to help find you," he glanced over at the dark chamber at the end of the room and his organs turned to ice again, he asked his next question tentatively, dreading the answer he might receive, "Did they hurt you Misuzu?"

It took a few moments but she eventually shook her head, "No…they didn't. That man you just killed had already laid claim to buying me, so they couldn't touch me. They hit me sometimes, but other than that no."

Relief pooled in his gut, and he extended a hand to her, "Good…come on. Let's leave this place. I'll take you to your sister."

She sat there wary for a few more seconds before she clambered to her feet, and grasped his hand in hers.

Ichigo pulled her into the shadows.

* * *

><p><strong>'Finishes zipping on flame retardant clothing' Right. Well then. <strong>

**People have been asking questions about a very important person. Aizen. They say, "Why doesn't Ichigo just go kill him now?" Alright guys, well...that is a good question. I'm being serious, it really is. But let me ask you this. **

**How?**

**What would Ichigo do? There is nothing known of Aizen from before he joined the Gotei 13, and the first time we ever hear of him is when he's a lieutenant. His past is a mystery, to both us and Ichigo. For all Ichigo knows aizen might not even be in the afterlife yet, and if he is then he's somewhere out in the VAST rukongai. How would Ichigo find him? He's probably a child at this point or something, and if he isn't then he's probably suppressing his reiatsu. Aizen was VERY good at hiding his reiatsu as we all know. The only way Ichigo would find him would be if he just happened upon him randomly out in the districts. What are the odds of that? **

**The next option is to wait for Aizen to join the Gotei 13. So he does, and why doesn't Ichigo swoop in and slice his head off before he becomes known throughout the seireitei? **

**How will Ichigo learn of it in time? Is he gonna break into the seireitei _everyday_ and search the 5th division _everyday_ looking for him? He couldn't do that for obvious reasons. He'd get caught, and then the gotei 13 would be on red alert for him again. He can't get in there to kill him, because he won't know he's joined up, and by the time he does find out it will be too late. **

**Besides. What kind of a fic would _that_ be? No big climactic battle scene? No drama? No action?**

**Lame. **

**The pairing is a canon woman by the way. **

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a review if you feel up for it. **


	9. Choices

**Disclaimer - I do not own anything from Bleach**

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><p>Warnings: AU, Time Travel, Ichigo-centric, violence, language<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Alrighty everyone. I literally took the canon by the throat, drove it to its knees, and crushed its trachea with this chapter. I hope you're ready. This chapter is also fairly...sad. Messed up even. Hold onto your asses. We get to see what happens when Ichigo makes a bad decision. The repercussions aren't pretty. Remember the pairing is a canon woman. Hope you enjoy!<strong>

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><p>Chapter 9: Choices<p>

Satoru shook his head. This wasn't Kaname's work.

He could see it clear as day. He knew how she executed her missions, and this was definitely _not_ how she did it. It was sloppy, brutally so, and there was far too much widespread destruction for it to have been her work. It was a bloody murder house.

He could have chalked it up to it just having been personal, but at the same time he doubted it. Personal for Kaname would have been her murdering the man painfully first, grabbing her sister next, and then hightailing it.

That and this were not the same thing.

She would have bypassed the guards, not carved through them leaving a ridiculous blood bath in her wake. She would have climbed in through a window, not blasted the door off of its hinges. She would have left the office looking pristine, and not destroyed practically every inch of it.

So no. This most definitely wasn't Kaname.

It didn't look like any shinigami either. Taking another look around it was inhumane, more reminiscent of a monstrous, blade wielding tornado than anything else.

What a mess. He'd had to step over a couple severed heads earlier, and lost his appetite because of it. Blood was everywhere, and there were at least 30 dead bodies if you included the clan head and the other unidentified man in the office, and all of whom were horribly disfigured in some way.

Especially the clan head.

He'd actually gagged when he'd first seen the mound of flesh that was barely recognizable as having once been a person. The only way they'd even been able to identify that one was by the clothes he wore. Although, half of the reason why he'd gagged might have been because of the room they'd found the body in. He doubted he'd ever get those images out of his head, they'd been seared into his retinas the moment he'd walked in.

He didn't even know what half of the contraptions they found in there even did. He doubted that he even wanted to know anyway. The Onmitsukido as a whole was no stranger to torture, but that? That wasn't torture. If there was a word beyond torture than that was what it was. It was unholy, horrific, nightmarish even.

Why did he always get stuck with the icky jobs?

Central 46 was in an uproar. A group of panicked old geezers all screeching like children about how this was a crime of the highest order, or how this was a stain on their honor as nobles to have a clan head killed in his own home.

He didn't see that. This wasn't some petty murder. This wasn't even a crime.

All he saw was righteous retribution.

They'd shut their damn mouths when he submitted his report. He knew that for a fact.

This was a clear cut case, and sure enough Kaname had been 100% right the entire time. He never doubted her of course, but that didn't matter. Sex trafficking was a very bad thing to be involved in after all, and this Clan would be wiped from the house registry. The members might even need assassination if Central was feeling up for it. They'd decide over their afternoon tea or something, and pick and choose which people needed to…disappear. Then they'd dump it all in his hands.

He'd be left to clean up their mess again, as always.

Oh well. It wasn't like this would take much to get to the bottom of. Central would probably all forget about the murder itself anyway once he finished his report on everything else. They'd all be lost in their own mad scramble to cover each of their individual asses, and then they'd pay attention to the bigger crime. The crime that actually mattered. Which took precedence? The murder of a clan head? Or that that clan head had been running an illegal sex slave ring involving the enslavement and torture of at least one hundred rukongai souls. That wasn't even counting the ones who's already been sold over the years.

Those poor women.

God he just…he couldn't even imagine.

They'd all been taken into custody of course, and were being taken good care of. Some had even gone to the 4th, at Unohana's behest, but he doubted there was much that they could do. It was a mad house over there. Wounded were streaming in from the battles out in the Rukongai, and they were working around the clock to save as many shinigami as they could.

That wasn't the only reason he doubted it would do much good though. He'd seen the looks in the eyes of those women, and no amount of physical treatment would ever rid them of the scars. Scars that they bore on their very souls. The memories would always be there, right along with the fear that accompanied them.

He mentally shook himself and tried to steer his thoughts away from that particular subject.

He turned back to the matter at hand, and surveyed the room. The office of the now deceased clan head was an absolute wreck. The portrait of him had crashed down, the desk and chairs were destroyed, broken wreckage from the drawers that belonged to the desk were everywhere along with their contents.

Dried blood was absolutely everywhere too. On the floors from where the dead guard lay, pooled there and smeared all around him. Several meters away near another wall was another massive pool of dried blood, and in the middle of it was a deep incision, like someone had jammed a blade into the floor. Someone must have been gutted there, and then the body might have been moved.

Who had done this? He knew that in a while it wouldn't matter to Central 46, but he wanted to know. It mattered to him. He needed to know who, or even what, could have caused such havoc as this.

He'd asked several of the witnesses that they'd gathered for statements, but the majority of them had all claimed that they hadn't seen a thing. The only one who had actually given him anything to work with had been the butler.

The butler had claimed that he didn't know the man's name or appearance, but that a single shinigami had done it, wielding two swords, a wakizashi and a katana. He'd been hooded and had stormed the house, killed all the guards, beaten Kirigaya Oda to within an inch of his life, released the women and then set them on the downed clan head, and then finally killed the other unidentified man. The butler said he'd witnessed the majority of it, and had set off to help the released women, only to find upon returning that the mysterious assailant had vanished along with one of the victims.

That had probably been Kaname's sister, and since she wasn't among any of the women that they'd gathered up that suspicion seemed to be founded.

But a single man though? Really? That seemed a bit far-fetched, along with the claim that he'd been wielding two blades. He didn't know what to think about all of that.

Satoru looked over at the body of the other unidentified man that had been in the office. Several of his men were crowded around him making observations, and he strode over to examine it too. He tapped the shoulder of one of his Onmitsukido, and gestured for them to move out of the way so that he could get a better look.

He knelt there and examined the body that lay crumpled in the wreckage of the desk, and he poked at the unnaturally angled neck bone that stuck out at him. Definitely the cause of death there. He rifled through the pockets of the robe the man was wearing, hoping to find something within them, but he came up empty except for a single bloodstained handkerchief. There was nothing to identify him with then.

Satoru shook his head. Of course there wasn't. That would be too easy.

Suddenly, something caught his eye and he reached up to brush aside the cloth covering the dead man's shoulder.

He found a hole, a stab wound in fact, that seemed to pass straight through his shoulder and out the other side. He peered at it, and examined the blood that had crusted around the wound. It was printed in a way, not really clearly, but the blood still looked like it had been shaped into a symbol. A circle maybe?

He blinked in realization. A tsuba then. Someone had stabbed a blade straight through all the way to the shoulder leaving the print of the blade's tsuba against the skin. But why? Why push it all the way in?

Satoru blinked again, and then he looked back at the dried blood puddle over by the far wall with the hole in the floor.

Ah. He could see it now.

The dead man had been pinned there, a non-lethal wound in the shoulder meant to keep him in place to be dealt with later. He'd been dealt with too alright. His neck wasn't just broken, but his whole face was a bruised, disfigured mess making identification difficult.

He glanced down at the clothes again and noted that they were a rich navy blue. He grabbed the cloth in his hands and felt the material. Finely woven too. No doubt a wealthy man then. A dead man dressed in fine clothes. Probably a potential buyer, judging by the scene and the sack of money found on the floor across the room.

But who was he though?

Something nagged at the back of his mind. He was missing something here, and he couldn't put his finger on it. It bugged him.

He glanced down at the bloodstained handkerchief in his hands.

He looked at it for a second, and then began unfolding it.

His eyes widened. There, embroidered on the center of the handkerchief, was the Shiba family crest.

…

Shit.

* * *

><p>"The eastern front is failing ma'am. There is someone out there that's tearing us apart. No one seems to come back from the engagements up there, and those that do weren't fighting around that area."<p>

Kaname glanced over concerned, "Is it a captain?"

Godou shook his head, "No idea. Like I said, no one's come back to give an accurate report."

Kaname glanced down at the maps and then closed her eyes, she sighed after a moment of thought before speaking, "You know my standing orders Godou. If a captain is spotted amongst the enemy everyone is to retreat and vanish into the surrounding districts before regrouping. No one is to attack the captains directly. If a captain is not identified then they are to continue fighting. Until we figure out who this man is keep them out there. We can't afford to lose there."

The hulking man nodded, although in a worried way, and she continued, "How are the other fronts?"

Godou pointed at the map in front of them, "Our hold in the south is still as strong as ever. We haven't given an inch, and every battle here turns in our favor. The west is faring better than the east, but they've fought to a standstill."

"And the North?" Kaname inquired with slight hope.

Godou shook his head, "We still haven't heard anything from the north. It's starting to look like they won't join us in this."

Kaname's eyes dropped down again, and she lightly tapped the table with her fingers trying to calm herself. She was able to admit that she'd expected that, but she'd still hoped otherwise. The north was beyond their reach it seemed.

"Very well, listen up Godou."

For the next half hour or so they discussed plans over that table, and poured over the maps. They came up with strategies, reviewed casualty reports, and planned their next attack. Contingency plans on top of contingency plans were made. Finally, when all was said and done, Kaname handed over several scrolls with various orders on them to Godou.

"Take these Godou, and give them to the runners. I need them out there, and to the fronts as soon as possible."

Godou nodded and made to lumber away, but Kaname called out to him again.

"One more thing Godou, have one of our men who came from the Onmitsukido go out there and get eyes on this mystery shinigami that's battering our eastern front. Don't have him attack, I just want him identified. Understand?"

Godou nodded again, and then resumed his trek. Once he passed the corner and disappeared, and Kaname sensed that he was fully gone, her knees gave out and she slumped down in the chair against the wall while releasing an explosive sigh. It sounded tired, exhausted even. She reached up and slowly began rubbing her temples to relax herself, and when that didn't work she reached back and started rubbing her own shoulders instead.

Nothing worked. She was still absurdly tense.

She leaned forward and put her head in her hands. Her hair fell out of her hood to cascade around her covered face.

She was so bloody tired.

She was completely out of her depth too. She had been a damn 5th seat for crying out loud. Sure, it was higher than most, but she'd never had a command of her own before. She was honestly so lost it was absurd. She had been in the Onmitsukido, and she wasn't bragging when she said she was one of the best, especially when her captain had taken her under his wing. That didn't make her a commander though. That bastard Satoru had even told her once that she was his next pick for lieutenant, but she'd left before that could ever come to fruition. If it ever would have.

So much for loyalty.

Look at what it had come to, and she was swept up right in the middle of it. War wasn't her way. She'd never learned war, never experienced the intense planning it required or the subtlties of it. She'd learned to kill in a way that prevented war. Assassinations were her strong suit, but not commanding hundreds of shinigami on an open battle field.

And Misuzu…

She was starting to lose hope. She tried not to, but at the same time is seemed impossible to stay hopeful with the present circumstances. It had been a solid three months since her sister had been taken, and one week since that mystery shinigami had agreed to find her. She had little hope that that one mystery guy would be able to do anything, so she turned to more practical thinking. Thinking that only made her heart sink further into her stomach.

Her sister might have been sold already for all she knew…or worse. There was no way for her to get to her really except by using the gates around the Seireitei, and that avenue was less than viable. The Oda compound was in there though, along with her sister.

Her heart dreaded the thought of what they might be doing to her in there. Dark thoughts that kept her up at night, and were part of the reason she was so tired all the time. She'd heard stories about what went down in that clan, and…if a single hair on her sister's head was touched then that whole clan would be wiped from the face of the Earth.

Justice would be served, on this day or the next.

Suddenly, she heard the scurrying sound of feet, and she glanced up to spy a mop of purple hair on top of a child come bouncing into the room.

Her mouth turned up in a small smile despite her thoughts.

She greeted the child with a tired smile that he couldn't see, and in a soft voice called to him, "Hey there little Tosen. I'm over here."

The child spun in the direction of her voice, and the lavender blank eyes the blind child had settled on the air a few feet from where she was sitting. He walked forward tentatively with his hands out in front of him, and she grasped his hand and steered him over when he came within reach.

"What are you doing in here Tosen? Why aren't you with the other kids?"

The little dark skinned boy frowned, and his blank eyes blinked up at her.

"They're being mean to me Kaname-san. They keep making fun of my eyes and stuff...and about me not having a last name. They laugh at me for being an orphan, so I left."

Kaname frowned, "Ohhh," she reached forward and grabbed him be the back of his head to pull him into a hug, and his little arms flailed for a moment out of confusion before they settled on her back, "Oh don't you worry about what they say. Their words mean nothing Tosen, so don't listen to them."

It hurt her heart to know that the other boys and girls were being mean to the kid. All of the other little ones in the caves were here with their families, so Tosen here was practically the only orphan around. She had a soft spot for the poor child, and had had one ever since she'd found him wandering the halls of their little headquarters. She'd taken him under her wing several weeks ago, and she'd slowly found out about what he'd been through. It was a sad past, but that wasn't surprising. They really did all have their own personal tragedies.

The poor kid was an orphan, just like the millions of others out in the rukongai, and had been blind since birth. It was a miracle that he'd survived this long as it was, not only being an orphan but also as a blind one. She didn't know how she'd adopted a soft spot for him, but she had and now there was practically nothing she could do about it. She'd look after him if no one else would.

"You don't need to listen to them, little Tosen. You're perfect just the way you are," She said with earnest sincerity.

The child pulled back, and a fragile smile pulled tentatively at the corners of his mouth at her words. Suddenly, an idea hit her, and she spoke up again.

"And as for your name…well…you can have mine!"

The child looked up at her, figuratively speaking, and confusion colored his dark skinned features.

"Kaname-san?"

She smiled and nodded, ignoring the fact that he couldn't see it, and continued, "Yep. Kaname Tosen. That's your name and don't you forget it."

She bopped him on the nose with a finger after she finished speaking and he smiled again, but this time it was brighter and spread across his face in a wide grin. She 'oofed' when he jumped at her, and she was wrapped up in another little hug from the child.

"Thank you Kaname-san!"

She smiled warmly, and rested her cheek against the top of his head.

"Of course Tosen."

She looked up suddenly, and Tosen turned toward where she was looking when both heard the sound of shouting and running men. Slowly the sound dwindled away as the troop of her shinigami left the cavern network and headed for the field of battle.

"Where are they going Kaname-san?" Tosen asked quietly as he heard them leave.

Kaname patted his head gently and spoke quietly back to him, "They're going to fight, little Tosen."

He turned back to her, "But why? Why do they have to fight?"

Kaname gave him a smile, a small sad one that spoke of her feelings on the matter, and answered, "It's for justice Tosen. They fight for justice."

She grabbed his shoulders to spin him around quickly and he almost lost his balance when she stopped him, she patted him on the back and bumped him in the direction of the passage, "Now go show those kids who's boss. Kaname Tosen is coming. Everybody watch out!"

The kid giggled before taking off, and he stumbled and ran stiltedly down the passage that he'd memorized.

She smiled watching him go, and her heart warmed at the sight of him happy again.

That warmth vanished quickly though, as the thoughts from before slowly crept up on her.

She sighed. What to do?

Suddenly, her trained eyes caught movement out of their corners, and she spun to watch as two people stepped out of her wall.

Huh?

* * *

><p>Ichigo stepped out of the shadows, and he blinked as his eyes adjusted to the light. He glanced around, and his gaze fell on Kaname sitting in her chair beside a brand new table to replace the one he'd destroyed looking entirely bewildered. Misuzu stumbled out of the shadow after him, and she bumped blindly into his back with her face. He took a few steps forward into the room tugging her behind him, and he released her hand.<p>

He looked at Kaname closely for a second, and he idly noted that she looked like hammered shit.

Ichigo's instincts suddenly roared to life, and his head spun to stare at the passage to his right. He'd felt something. Something horrifically familiar. _Someone_ horrifically familiar.

What?

He blinked in bewilderment.

_What_?!

No.

He stalked across the room toward the passage, and was about to reach it to glance down it when a shout came from behind him.

"MISUZU!"

He glanced back and watched with interest as Kaname jumped out of her seat to blast across the room, barreled into her sister, lifted her up in her deceptively strong arms, spun her around, and then squeezed the life out of Misuzu in a bone crushing hug. It was a warming sight.

Ichigo peered closer.

Were they crying?

Yep. Those were tears. They were crying.

Shit. He wasn't good with handling tears of any kind, and especially not girl tears. You would think that after all of the teary eyed encounters with Orihime he'd have gotten better at it, but no. It seemed it would always remain out of his skill set.

He started after a few moments of observing the happy pair, suddenly remembering why he was standing across the room from the others, and spun to stare down the connecting hallway.

There was no one there.

Bullshit.

He made to walk down the hallway and start searching, but a tug to his sleeve stopped him. He glanced down and his brown eyes met Kaname's deep green ones. They were puffy and red now from crying, but the biggest, broadest smile of absolute gratitude stretched across her face.

"Thank you."

In the next second she practically lunged and viscously glomped him so hard that he almost lost his balance. Her face was buried in his robes, and she was squeezing so hard that he idly wondered if his spine was going to collapse anytime soon. He flailed his still blood covered hands wildly, completely at a loss, and stared wide eyed at the mop of black hair against his chest.

The hell?

"Oi! Get off!"

She ignored him, and kept right on hugging him no matter how much he flailed his arms. Eventually he settled, and still totally at a loss lay his arms on her back. He was tentative about it, trying to make sure none of the blood coating his hands got onto her clothes, and he gave up trying to get her off. She'd let go eventually.

He didn't expect what happened next though.

She did let go, for a moment, but then her hands darted up to grab the back of his head, and dragged him down into a smashing kiss.

Ichigo's eyes flew wide at the feel of her lips on his, and he yanked his head back violently. Her grip broke, and he spluttered in shocked alarm. He stumbled for a moment, reeling, and fell flat on his ass coughing and viscously wiping his mouth.

"THE HELL WOMAN?!"

High pitched, uncontrolled giggles reached his ears, and he glared over at her as she lost herself in her mirth. She stumbled away, laughing too hard to walk straight, and she grabbed her sister to pull her down to the ground with her. They both were laughing now, and the sound of their guffawing only made him glare harder.

She looked over at him from her position on the stone floor, and through her laughs she spoke, "Oh come now! Don't be mad! It was a thank you!"

His ears burned and he didn't let up his glare. She lost herself again as she laughed.

* * *

><p>Night came, and whispers of the wind carried throughout the tunnels like the moaning of the dead. The torches still flickered in their places, like the lingering wisps of the fallen shinigami who'd given their lives over the dispute. A few of the men who were on guard walked the halls, weapons at the ready, but aside from them all was quiet as sleep took the remaining residents.<p>

Except for Ichigo and Kaname.

"So. You gonna tell me your name now?"

Ichigo glared over at her again, still not happy with the shit she'd pulled earlier.

She poured herself another cup of sake, and huffed a teasing laugh, "Oh come on. I let you skip the first date and everything, just jumped straight to the first kiss, and you _still_ won't tell me your name? That's cold."

"I don't seem to recall asking you to kiss me," he growled lowly.

She laughed again while rolling her eyes, "Pretty girl kisses you and you complain. Makes me wonder. Is there something you're not telling me? Don't tell me you're-"

"Don't say it!" Ichigo growled again, and his mood soured further. She exploded in giggles and she kept laughing into her cup before she set it down again.

Ichigo was left to drown in a split second flash of his father teasing him about the same thing when Rukia used to live in his closet. His knuckles popped as he clenched his fists. He had half a mind to say fuck it and leave right then…but he couldn't. He needed to talk to her.

He needed to stop this.

"Is it enough Kaname-san?" he inquired in a more level voice, temporarily forgetting his annoyance…and fleeting despair.

She looked over at him, a smile still on her lips, "Hmmm? Is what enough?"

Ichigo scowled hard under his hood, "Is returning your sister and setting free all of those women enough? Will you stop this now?"

She blinked over at him in her semi-tipsy stupor, before she settled further into her seat to think. Hope rose in his throat, but it disappeared when she shook her head and spoke up.

N-no I…I can't. I won't stop. I can't thank you enough for saving my sister, but this war isn't over just one noble family. It's a war that's been a long time coming, and over far more than that. Even if I stopped leading them, the war would still continue without me, and frankly I'm not ready to stop anyway. Those atrocities are common place, and will continue to be common place under the rule of those noble clans. As of right now…war is the only option we have. Violence is the only thing they'll listen to."

Ichigo's anger flared, and he almost retorted, but alarms rang in his head before he could.

He blasted to his feet and shunpoed across the room at a blinding speed to catch the Onmitsukido clad shinigami by the throat just as he himself materialized in the room. He dangled there in Ichigo's tight grip for a few moments before a blade came sailing for Ichigo through the air. He deftly caught the hand bearing the knife inches from his own face, reversed its trajectory, and brought it down again only to stop bare millimeters from the shinigami's throat.

Ichigo stared into the eyes of his caught prey, and for the thousandth time he bore witness to the rapid fire emotions that roared through the soon to be dead man's eyes as he realized his end was upon him. He'd seen this so many times before. He'd seen the look of people right before he killed them.

He'd seen it too many times.

A palm came to rest on his flexed bicep, and another came forward to remove the knife from his grip. He glanced to the side and received a nod from Kaname.

He dropped the man, watching for a moment as he writhed on the ground, and turned away to return to his seat.

His adrenaline cooled in his veins, and he sat there stewing as he watched Kaname converse with the now kneeling Onmitsukido rebel. The assassin passed Kaname a scroll of some kind, and dismissed the man who then promptly disappeared in a hurried shunpo.

Probably eager to get away from Ichigo. He didn't blame him. He didn't blame anyone who wanted to be away from him really.

He wasn't the kind of person that anyone should associate with.

Kaname returned to her seat while eyeing him speculatively for a moment and then started pouring over the scroll in her hands. After a few seconds of reading her eyes widened.

Ichigo watched her, and she looked up at him before passing him the scroll. She spoke up then.

"I had a man sent to the eastern front this morning to try and discover who was decimating our ranks over there. The man I sent isn't back yet, but it seems that my squad leaders over there took the initiative and had a man bring back a description already. It would appear that he's a Kuchiki."

A Kuchiki?!

Ichigo started in surprise before sliding open the scroll and reading through the description.

Oh shit.

Ichigo's fist clenched over the end of the scroll, and the wooden end splintered in his grip. Kaname stared at his reaction avidly.

Ichigo dropped the scroll, and in a low bone chilling voice said one word.

"_Koga."_

* * *

><p>A hurried journey via shunpo carried Ichigo to the eastern front of the resistance, and he came to a stop in the outskirts of the later 60's. He spied through the trees from his personal branch that a battle was being waged out there on the sloping hills and grassy plains.<p>

Purple reiatsu explosions were all over the place, and its unique signature permeated the air.

He knew this reiatsu, he couldn't forget it, and so his suspicions from before were grounded.

Koga Kuchiki had given all of them enough trouble to last a lifetime. They'd been deep in the war with Aizen already, so when all of their zanpakuto's started acting up right in the middle of it…it hadn't been good.

Many had died. Gruesomely. Yumichika and Ikkaku to name a few of them.

So no Koga.

Just no.

Koga wouldn't be sealed away this time around if he had anything to say about it. He'd gut him before the old man had the chance.

Kaname fazed into existence next to him out of breath, and she panted as she spoke to him, "Damn…you're so…bloody fast."

The corners of his mouth twitched. She had no idea. She calmed down after a minute, and then peered through the trees with him. She gasped, and her eyes widened at the view the field presented.

Dead bodies stretched as far as the eyes could see. Most with their own zanpakuto's through their throats. The sights and smells of the field of corpses overrode all senses, and Kaname's eyes flooded with tears.

Ichigo paid it little mind, (part of him wondered if maybe there was something horribly wrong with him if he could dismiss such a sight so easily these days) and he kept watching as Koga continued to absolutely decimate the remainder of the rebel forces in the field. Slowly though he started noticing what was going on beside him.

He glanced sideways, and dread started pooling in his gut.

"How dare he…how _dare_ he…I'll kill him," Kaname whispered in barely contained wrath, "I'll kill _all_ of them for this…him and every fucking noble…I'LL KILL HIM!"

She drew her zanpakuto in a frenzy and blasted off the branch, shaking leaves loose as she shunpoed away at full tilt, and left Ichigo to silently battle with himself. His first instinct was to rush after her and stop her…but should he do it?

Would it be the right choice?

He watched as she approached the edge of the forest, and then blasted out of the tree line. She was heading straight for Koga, and certain death.

Could he just let her die like that?

He made his decision, and he completely ignored the call from Zangetsu to stop.

Ichigo appeared next to her with little difficulty, snatched her arm making her jolt and she started to tumble and cry out, and he launched her back with some strength to send her sailing back into the trees. The sound of her slamming into one of the trunks within carried with the wind.

Ichigo vanished from the field of battle again. Just in time too as Kuchiki Koga turned in the direction he'd been standing, scanning to find the source of all the noise.

Ichigo dropped out of shunpo next to the unconscious form of Kaname as she lay there slumped against the tree she'd collided with, and he stood there staring down at her.

Was that the right choice?

* * *

><p>The new feeling in his gut made him question it.<p>

The rain fell. It hadn't stopped of course, and it didn't look like it ever would either.

The droplets slid down the sides of the skyscrapers, over glass and metal, on their never ending journey downward. Lightning flashed around, and their bright light illuminated the concrete world.

Shiro stood alone, high up on top of the tallest skyscraper, and he tisk'd into the wind out of annoyance. He crossed his arms, and his gold and black eyes looked away from the roiling clouds above and down at his bleached feet.

He shook his head almost sadly.

"_**You done fucked up now King."**_

Zangetsu appeared next to him, and he looked up at the clouds in Shiro's stead. He too shook his head.

They both knew Ichigo had just made a mistake. A very grave mistake.

"_Oh Ichigo…you will regret that decision."_

* * *

><p>"WHY DID YOU STOP ME?!" Kaname screamed as she got right in Ichigo's face, her eyes swimming in absolute rage.<p>

"Because he would have killed you," he answered back in as calm a voice as he could manage. Her face twisted in front of him into a glare loaded with frenzied anger…and something else.

Something dark was in her eyes.

Her voice dropped down to a barely controlled whisper, heavy laden with malice, and she spat out, "_How the fuck do you know that?"_

She turned away and stalked across the cave away from him.

Ichigo picked up where he left off, "His zanpakuto's name is Muramasa."

She turned and glared at him, "What of it?"

Ichigo ignored the look, but part of him was concerned by what he saw there lingering in her eyes.

He continued, "His zanpakuto has the ability to turn other's zanpakuto's against them. That's its power. If you had gone in there, yours would have fallen under his sway, and you would have died."

The glare shattered, but there was something still in her eyes that…unsettled him. She turned away and stumbled over to her table. He came over to stand beside her, and his ears picked up rapid mumbling.

"-They'll die. I swear it. They will die by my hand and no one else's. I'll tear their heads from their shoulders…I swear I will-"

Ichigo backed up in alarm, "Kaname?"

She didn't seem to hear him.

He stepped forward and grabbed her shoulder to spin her in place, "Kaname!"

Her eyes found him, but they didn't really see him. They were out of focus. "Don't you see?!" she cried in a hysterical voice, "They killed all of them! My people! People that trusted in me! A noble killed them! A damn _noble_! I'll make them pay…I swear I will…I will have all of their heads!..."

Ichigo let go of her shoulders, and backed up several steps with wide eyes full of panicked confusion. Her eyes didn't follow him, and she kept mumbling her threats to the air.

Maybe Kaname seeing that field full of hundreds of her butchered troops hadn't been a good thing.

* * *

><p>War wasn't pretty. It never had been, and any romanticized version of it was nothing more than a bold faced lie. It was sheer tragedy heaped on top of lunacy and a pile of corpses.<p>

You could never be ready for it.

It seemed that nothing could ever prepare you for the sheer amount of senseless violence, nor the overwhelming amount of death that came with it. It catches all by surprise, even after thousands of years of its existence, it still manages to catch people off guard.

Did you not think that people would die?

Did you not think that maybe you wouldn't be going home?

Did you not think that some of the people you commanded wouldn't make it back? Forcing you to write letters home to their oblivious mothers on tear soaked, ink stained parchment.

What would you say to them? That their child had fought bravely? You'd seen him cower in the dirt. That their child had died quick? You'd helped him hold his entrails in his stomach as he'd bled out on the grass screaming in a horrible, gut wrenching, and shattered voice. That their child had made a difference? Blood still soaked the earth on which he'd once lain, and another man fell there to die on the next day. War was simple, two sides throwing bodies at each other until one side finally came out on top.

But war was hell. War could break anyone.

The same fire that melts butter tempers steel.

Kaname was not steel.

* * *

><p>Months of war passed.<p>

Ichigo visited often, and each time his heart sank more and more.

She was losing it, and all he could do was stand there and watch. She was falling off of the deep end, just like so many did when drenched in the horrors of war. She was drowning in her own rage, her own anger, her own despair. The war she'd started was spiraling out of control. More of her people died every day, rukongai volunteers and shinigami alike, and with Koga out there doing the killing there was practically nothing she could do about it. Misuzu had done her best to help, but nothing seemed to be able to bring Kaname back from the brink she was approaching.

Ichigo could see it clearly now, and a helpless despair bled into his veins when the realization hit him.

He'd grown attached in the short time he'd known her, and that choice he'd made…when he decided to save her out of his own instinctive reaction to protect her.

It had been the wrong choice.

She was supposed to have died on that battlefield against Koga, but he'd stopped it from happening. Now the war was dragging on, and the death toll was on an ever upward climb. Now she was wary of Koga, and wouldn't go out to specifically battle him out of fear of falling to his zanpakuto's power.

She was lost to Ichigo now. Nothing he could say would stop her. She was driven, driven to kill each and every noble out there, and the rukongai citizens kept supporting her. They still kept coming to her to refill her ranks, and the loyalists were losing men. The war continued to supply her with the bodies she needed to throw at the enemy. The only thing Ichigo couldn't see her overcoming were the captains.

If this kept up then who knew how many would bodies would be piled on either side by the end.

He needed to make it right.

* * *

><p>Ichigo materialized out of a shadow within her cave, and he was greeted by a sad sight. A sight that made his heart plummet into his stomach again.<p>

This was what Kaname had been reduced to.

She was a shell of her former self, and the beauty was long gone. Her hair was a mess, huge bags were under her eyes from her exhaustion, and she had a wild look about her. Her clothes were torn from battle, and through them he could spy her figure. It was thin. Too thin. Like she'd stopped eating. He wouldn't be surprised if she had.

He walked forward and extended a tentative hand toward her, she blinked at him in confusion.

"Who are you?!" she asked in a panicked tone as she jumped to her feet.

Ichigo started in surprise, she had gotten even worse since he'd last seen her. He put up his hands in a placating gesture, "It's me Kaname, you know me. I'm a friend."

She shook her head rapidly, "N-no, I don't know you. I don't even know your name." Suddenly her eyes flashed, and she rushed forward to grab him.

"I have the perfect plan! You have to listen to me! You have to help me!"

Ichigo's stomach lurched at the sight of the look in her eyes. She spun away again, stumbling lightly as she did, and she threw her hands up as she giggled, "I figured it out! I know how to make them surrender! I know how to bring them to their knees!"

Ichigo stepped forward again, his heart breaking with every passing second that he watched, and he grabbed her shoulder tightly. She tensed noticeably under his grip.

"What are you talking about Kaname?"

She looked back at him, and he got a clear look into her eyes again.

Madness.

Total madness was what he saw lying in those dulled forest green orbs.

"I can bring them to their knees," she giggled, "The Gotei 13, and those monstrous nobles."

She turned to him, and she continued to drown in her madness, "Don't you see? This war, it's perfect! Shinigami die over and over and over, and what does that do?"

Ichigo shook his head, forlorn and desolate, and he answered in a quiet voice, "…I don't know Kaname. What does it do?"

Her eyes lit up again, "The shinigami need to go and help the souls in the living world right?! But they're all here! They're all dying! Pretty soon there will be no one left to do it, and as soon as they see that they'll surrender! They're priority is to keep the balance right?! RIGHT?! SO ALL I HAVE TO DO IS KEEP KILLING THEM, AND THEN THEY'LL GIVE IN TO MY DEMANDS! FOR THE SAKE OF THE WORLD! THE WHOLE RUKONGAI WILL RISE UP IF I NEED THEM, THEY ONLY HAVE THOUSANDS WHILE I HAVE MILLIONS! HAHA CAN'T YOU SEE NOW! I CAN'T LOSE! I'LL KILL ALL OF THEM IF I-"

Ichigo's hands shot forward, and snapped her neck. She dropped like a puppet with her strings cut. Her body hit the ground, her skull bouncing on the stone floor, and the rebellion came crumbling down with her.

He gazed down at her lying there, and a broken feeling roared through his heart. He clenched his fists out of despair, and he knelt down to brush the frazzled and torn hair out of her eyes.

"…My name is Ichigo…and I am so sorry."

His tears fell to splash against her still warm cheek. He tried to blink them away, but there was nothing for it.

She was going to kill so many. She didn't know the old man like he did. She didn't know how the Gotei 13 reacted when faced with total extinction. He did though, he'd seen it with Aizen.

They'd never surrender, and they'd rather watch the world burn than fall to their knees over anything. Her quest would only result in countless souls from the rukongai being killed, and just as she'd said the shinigami would die with them. The human world would be abandoned, and the balance would be shattered. Without the shinigami, the afterlife would fall into total ruin. It would be the end.

He pulled his hand away, and he clenched his fist again.

He hadn't had a choice.

_She looked back, "We have no choice."_

_Ichigo shook his head again, and his hood swayed, "There is always a choice."_

Ichigo's eyes shot wide and he jumped to his feet, "N-no."

He looked around and spied the table again. That fucking table.

He grabbed it and flung it into the stone wall. It exploded in wood and splinters on impact. He saw the crate full of maps, and grabbed it too only to fling it into the wall as well. Ichigo continued his frenzy, and he began flinging boxes and crates every which way, and his yells filled the passages.

"NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!" he screamed, and tears of blinding agony streamed down his face.

Pretty soon there was nothing left to throw, and he started punching the stone in his horror. He never stopped yelling.

Blood ran down his hands, and his knuckles kept breaking only to be regenerated by his hollow regeneration. Over and over they shattered against the stone, but he wouldn't stop. He couldn't stop.

The hurricane raged on his in soul.

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><p>Kaname Tosen could hear everything, and he sat there crying in the abandoned passage. The guy, Ichigo was his name, had hit her, and there was nothing he could do. Then there was a bunch of crashing and yelling and crying, and then…silence.<p>

Tosen was pretty sure the guy was gone, but he was still too scared to go in there.

Several minutes passed, and eventually Tosen wiped his eyes and crawled down the passage listening intently to hear if there was anyone ahead of him.

He didn't hear anything, so he got up on wobbly legs and stumbled the rest of the way to Kaname's chamber. He stepped tentatively into the room with his hands out in front of him, but he still didn't hear anything. It was completely silent all around him. He walked a bit further into the room, mindful of the debris scattered all around the room from the wrecked crates and tables, and he stopped when his foot hit something causing him to lightly trip.

He bent down and his hands found clothing, and his hands traveled up until he found a face. He felt it, and panic gripped him when he identified it as Kaname's own.

His hands flew to her shoulders and he shook her, "Kaname-san! Kaname-san wake up! Kaname-san are you okay?! Answer me!"

She didn't answer. He let her go, and his hands traveled to her throat.

Her throat felt…odd. Like it was out of place…and there wasn't any pulse.

Kaname Tosen's blind eyes cried tears anew, and the child collapsed in anguish onto the dead body of the woman who gave him his name. The woman who had shown him compassion. The only women who'd ever cared for him.

Through his choking sobs he spoke to the un-hearing dead body below him, "I swear Kaname-san, I swear…I promise you…I will have justice for this…"

He'd find this Ichigo one day…and he would pay.

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><p>"What do you mean you want me to destroy the evidence?! Are you asking me to cover this up?!" Satoru yelled at the gathered men in the inner chamber of Central 46.<p>

Shuffling of papers and several annoyed grunts sounded throughout the hall, and after a few moments the speaker of the assemblage addressed him again.

"That is our order Shihouin-taichou. We want all evidence from the Oda compound destroyed, and there will be no follow-up investigation. Justice has already been served on this matter, and we need not take it any further than the murderer did."

Seething anger roared to life behind Satoru's eyes, and he spat out his next words, "So you just want to _forget_ it happened then? Is that it?! All of those women out there will receive nothing in recompense for the crimes against them? You will take no action?! What if there are more crime rings out there?!"

Angry murmurs could be heard in placed of the annoyed ones, and the member spoke up again in a clipped tone, "You will watch your tongue Shihouin-taichou, lest we take action against you. Do not defy Central 46, or else you will face the consequences. If we hear of you attempting to enact your own unsanctioned follow-up investigations against any of the houses then you will be stripped of your rank. Are we clear?"

Rage replaced the anger, but Satoru forced himself back down and reeled in his emotions. It would do nothing for him to get angry here, and he knew that nothing he said would sway any of them.

He nodded stiffly, "Yes, crystal clear," he looked up, "and the Shiba man we found?"

Another voice popped up from his right, "Like we said, justice was served the night of the murder Shihouin-taichou. Dispose of the body in a place that it can dissolve into reishi undiscovered. With the rebellion only now coming to an end we don't need any more added tension to the political scene."

Satoru fought back the urge to roll his eyes. He knew what that meant. 'Dispose of the body, we don't want any of the families discovering how much we've been fucking up over the years.'

He inclined his head in that direction with a barely concealed glare, "Understood sir."

He had to try really, _really_ hard not to sound mocking.

The first speaker addressed him again, "As for the Oda…we will summon you to a more private session in the near future. They will need to be dealt with appropriately. You are dismissed."

He nodded and turned to leave, and the sound of chairs sliding out as the members of Central all started meandering toward their own exits followed behind him. He left through the door to the inner chamber, headed down the numerous halls, and finally made it out into the sunshine again allowing the breeze to pass through his ebony hair.

He sighed explosively, meandered forward a few feet, and then plopped down on the steps to lean back on his hands.

God. He was out of it.

He needed a vacation.

He had a few dozen leave days stocked up…perhaps he'd take some time off. He might even be able to convince Tindra to tag along.

The happy thoughts died after a few minutes of him sitting in the sun, and he leaned forward to put his head in his hands.

What a mess. That rebellion had been the worst thing he'd ever seen. Thousands had died in it, and it was only now coming to a close. It had been almost six months since the rumors had started popping up, and for a rebellion that only took place in a single city…6 months was a long time to fight down in those streets.

He glanced back at Central 46 from where he was siting, and that anger smoldered back to life again. For the length of the entire rebellion those bastards had stayed cooped up in there safe as could be, while thousands died over their damn incompetence. It just went to show how pathetic they were with them only now getting to the case over the sex trafficking.

Pathetic, cowardly gas bags. The lot of them.

His thoughts turned to the crime. The murder of the Oda clan head had caused quite the stir, not to mention how it had led to a renewed slew of desertions when the facts had gotten out. Dirty laundry was aired laundry in the Seireitei, and nothing like that stayed hidden for long.

Part of him wanted to feel betrayed by his fellow shinigami over this war, but…the majority of him didn't. He felt like it needed to happen. Hopefully this would be a wakeup call for the other clans, because if it wasn't then similar things were bound to happen again.

He could see it now. If things around here didn't shape up then someone strong was gonna come along who was fed up with everyone's shit. Perhaps a shinigami like Kaname. They'd be tired with how things were run, and they'd cause another rebellion just like this one. They'd drag other shinigami along with them for the ride, and maybe…just maybe…the Gotei 13 would lose that one.

Things needed to change if that was to be prevented, and he desperately hoped they would. The balance really did need to be maintained.

His earlier thought came back to him, and he idly wondered how Kaname was doing. She hadn't been spotted on almost any of the battlefields, especially near the end, but he hoped she made it out okay. Her sister was supposedly safe now, so she had something to live for. Besides, she was a slippery one that one. She knew how to get out of tight situations, young though she might have been. He'd trained her well.

He sincerely hoped that he'd see her again one day, and that they'd be able to part on better terms the next time their paths crossed.

A rustle of clothing alerted him to someone else's presence as they dropped out of shunpo behind him, and he didn't stir when he recognized their signature as Tindra's. A few moments later her hands found his neck, and she started kneading his shoulders with a gentle massage. He groaned in satisfaction, and her mouth appeared next to his ear.

"Rough day at work?"

He turned his head to kiss her deftly on the cheek, before he relaxed into the impromptu massage.

"Yeah…ah…those Central 46…assholes…always manage to ruin my day."

Chime like giggles danced in his ears, and the sound of them warmed his heart. Suddenly, an idea struck him, and he jumped to his feet interrupting the massage.

"Something wrong?" Tindra asked from behind him, and he turned to look at her in all her haori clad beauty.

"Nope. I just think that it's time I go find Shunsui. I feel like getting slightly comatose tonight. Care to join me?" he asked as he extended his hand.

She cocked a delicate eyebrow and a smile danced on her lips as she laid her hand in his, "Hmmmm, celebrating does sound nice right now. Sure, why not?"

He nodded. They would indeed celebrate tonight. The war was over, and they'd made it out to see the other end of it. He'd raise a glass to Kaname, and wish her the best of luck going forward.

Tomorrow though, they would lament the fallen, and bury the dead.

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><p><strong>(Insert maniacal laughter)<strong>

**Right. Sooooooo...I'm currently hiding. Under my bed. From all of you.**

**Just so you know the story isn't going to all be like this. It gets better again. I promise.**

**I just want to take a moment and inform all of you reading this (if you're still alive after reading this particular installment) and let you know that I've managed to pump out 100k words in 7 days. My brain is mush. I think I might just keel over after all of this. Carpal Tunnel is a possibility as well. I hope all of you don't expect me to keep this up when I go off to college again...that would be tragic. Almost as tragic as this chapter.**

**Did anyone notice my little Axel KH reference in there?! Eh?! EEEHHHH?! (I'm talking to you Sorrowful Requiem. Yes I can see your Icon. I love it.)**

**As for the pairing, I think I'd better restate it. It's not THAT out there. Unohana? Really? (chills up my spine) For those it may concern, the romance will be very important, and yes it will be a focal point. It will also move the story along, but that's the point of romance in a story really. -That's to you Pure soul. Hope it helped.**

**Gotta give a shout out to my main man Fraiku, you've given me like 300 reviews by yourself man. Thank you so much, it means the world to me.**

**HAHA SWEET JESUS iamadisco, you are too kind. I doubt that I'll ever be able to live up to cywscross, but hey, here's to hoping right? Maybe one day. **

**As for Kronus96, you are also too kind. Thank you so much for appreciating my work. I put absolutely no effort into it. **

**To all of my other reviewers out there that I didn't mention. I love you very much. Don't think that I don't just because I didn't mention you. **

**Got to give thanks to people. They deserve it. I want to thank cywscross again for being wonderful and being my inspiration. I want to thank my dear friend garrus for being the beta of this story. He went on a rage first by the way out of all of you since he was the first to read it. And mom. Sorry that I was a tumor baby and didn't want to cooperate even back then. Yes I know I'm a little shit. **

**Anyway, thanks everyone, and I hope you enjoyed it! Once again, please leave a review if you feel like it. I absolutely adore them. **


	10. Wings To Fly Above The Roads

**Disclaimer - I do not own anything from Bleach**

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><p>Warnings: AU, Time Travel, Ichigo-centric, violence, language<p>

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><p><strong>Author's note: Hello everyone. Happy late new year. (Throws confetti) <strong>

**I hope you're ready because this one is great. It was fun to write, so if that is an indicator then awesome. Anyway, as I'm sure you noticed, I haven't updated in several days. I mentioned in my ending author's note on the last chapter that my brain was like dead...so yeah. Took some time off to let my brain recuperate. The updates will be a bit more spaced out now. Not sure how spaced out, probably by a few days each, and if that changes I'll warn you. So don't freak out. Cool? Cool. More at the bottom as I'm sure you've already guessed. Answered questions and more info on what went down in this chapter. Anyway, hope you enjoy!**

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><p>Chapter 10: Wings To Fly Above The Roads.<p>

Night had fallen once more, but Ichigo couldn't sleep. He'd tried to sleep, but restless turning and warring thoughts kept slumber at bay. He could have blamed that on the stone floor beneath him, or the frigid wind that blew through the cave, but he knew the real reason. It was the same reason as every other night. His own regret was a constant dead weight that squeezed his frame when the lights dimmed, and in the silence his own thoughts were like thrashing shouts. Tonight though, one thought rang louder than all the others.

He should not have gotten involved.

The past shouldn't be tampered with, it was common sense after all, but it appeared that his natural tendencies overrode his common sense. He knew his own tendencies too, which was what made the situation even more absurd. He knew what would have happened, what he might do, before he'd even done it, and he did it anyway. He'd jumped head first into a conflict that he had no business butting into, and he'd made a mess of it. He'd mucked up the timeline, and then had to step in to correct his own mistake by killing someone he really hadn't wanted to kill.

Kaname was supposed to have died long before she did, but instead he'd kept her around forcing her to walk the path to madness. If he'd let her die instead of attempting to protect her she would never have ended up breaking. She would have never become that twisted form of herself, and so in a way, it was his fault that she had become that way. It was his fault that the rebellion had dragged on, and it was his fault that her sister had had to watch as the only person she cared for was dragged kicking and screaming into the depths of despair.

Kaname had been the one to pay the price for his mistake, but he'd learned his lesson. It would be a crime for him not to learn from this, and so he had. He wouldn't get involved any longer, and he wouldn't allow himself to be driven by his urge to protect others here. He would always protect, but at the same time that value was wrong to apply in this case. He couldn't stop the things around him from happening just because of his own selfish desires to keep others close to him and safe. That wasn't what he was here for after all.

He had a job. To stop Aizen, and save his future friends. That was it.

Killing Koga fell under that jurisdiction, _not_ saving Kaname. He'd have to get better at seeing where that line was drawn from then on or else he'd pay the price.

Ichigo drew his arms back from behind his head, and climbed to his feet with a rustle of clothing. He swayed for a moment, and his hand shot out to grasp the cave wall before he fell over. Stars danced in his eyes as light headedness swarmed him, but eventually they faded. His stomach lurched and growled audibly, and he scowled down at it in annoyance. He'd forgotten to eat again it seemed, which was what caused the unsteady feeling in his limbs. He'd have to stop off in one of the nearby eastern districts in the morning to grab something.

He meandered over to the mouth of the cave he'd taken up residence in, and he gazed out into the forest. It was quiet out tonight he noted, and the breeze passed into his hood and ruffled his wild hair. He gazed up at the crescent moon that hung in the starry sky and admired it from afar. Its pale light shone down on him and the surrounding forest in a silent vigil. He stretched out his hands to the sky, the wind passing amongst his reaching fingertips, and tried to catch the moon in his hands. Nothing came of it. It seemed it would always be out of his reach.

Out of nowhere a hand came down to rest on his shoulder to give it a light, reassuring squeeze, but he didn't start in surprise. He knew this hand, as well as who it belonged to instinctively. Ichigo wasn't surprised he'd decided to make an appearance either.

"_It is beautiful out tonight isn't it,"_ Zangetsu said quietly as he came forward to stand beside Ichigo.

Was it? He hadn't noticed. His awareness wasn't used for noticing things like that anymore it seemed. He didn't stop looking at the moon, and Zangetsu gazed up at it along with him.

"_What do you intend to do Ichigo?"_ Zangetsu inquired beside him after a few minutes of gazing at the silvery crescent.

Ichigo broke his gaze and looked down to study his feet for a few moments in thought. He knew what he needed to do.

"I'm not going to interfere anymore," he said after some time, "I shouldn't have in the first place. I'll stay out of things that don't have anything to do with me from now on. That's how it should be, and how it was supposed to be all along."

Zangetsu nodded, happy that Ichigo had come to that conclusion. He spoke up in another question, _"And Kuchiki Koga?"_

Ichigo looked up at the moon again and shook his head, "I know it's hypocritical, but…he has to die. I won't kill him now, I fully intend to let his actions run their course, but he will die by my hand. I won't let him be sealed away only to cause havoc later on down the road. In the meantime…let madness take him. I don't care what happens to that man."

Silence took them once more, and the wind blew by with the passing of time. Nothing seemed to stir save for the leaves in the trees, and Ichigo lost himself in his thoughts. Zangetsu took note.

"_What are you thinking?"_ Zangetsu asked in a hushed tone.

Ichigo sucked in a breath and released it in a long drawn out sigh.

What was he thinking? What was he even _doing_? Sometimes it felt like he was just stumbling in the dark trying his hardest to stay himself while needing to be something he wasn't. With everything around him spiraling out of control he frankly didn't know what to think, so Zangetsu's question didn't really fit.

Perhaps a thought from the maelstrom of others would make do.

"I'm thinking that maybe there isn't a good road to take us home Zangetsu. If there even is a road in the first place."

Zangetsu didn't reply for a moment, and his hand came up to pat Ichigo on the back. Eventually he spoke up again.

"_Then don't walk the roads Ichigo. Fly above them. Take your place beside the moon. Let the things you can't change fall behind you. "_

Fly above them? Take his place beside the moon?

Ichigo looked to his side and squinted at Zangetsu, "Why the hell do you always have to speak in damn riddles old man."

Zangetsu huffed a dry laugh that lasted a second, and the smallest smile tugged at the old man's lips, _"Because I am confident that you can understand them Ichigo."_

With that Zangetsu vanished again, and a second later Ichigo felt in his soul that the Quincy spirit had once again taken up residence there. Ichigo stared wide eyed for a few moments at the spot the old man had just been standing, somewhat bewildered.

Did the old man just laugh?

Ichigo huffed his own laugh a second later at the thought. His own surprise and the fact that it was true made him chuckle, and a tentative smile that didn't really feel like it belonged on his face blossomed. He looked up at the moon again with that little smile still in place.

Fly above the roads eh?

He'd need wings for that.

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><p>The wind blew through the square to ruffle his hair, and the edges of his robe skirted along the ground in its wake. Kaien drew his sword allowing it to glint in the sunlight, and he looked around at the combatants surrounding him. They were all also armed, and a brief glance put their numbers at ten. They were arranged in a circle, all of them poised to move in to attack him, but he was ready.<p>

They wouldn't best him. He had a teacher to live up to after all.

The first man lunged forward, and Kaien met his blade with his own. He shifted their joined katanas to the side, and stepped back letting the force shift to his left. The man kept pushing forward, and as soon as Kaien retracted his blade he fell off balance to the side.

Right into Kaien's now charging knee. The man slumped to the floor as the air exploded from his lungs in a whoosh.

Kaien ducked as another blade came sailing for him, and he rolled away from the rushing group. He hopped to his feet, and tilted into a speedy shunpo that brought him careening around behind another man who was bringing up the rear. A sharp crack from his hilt to the back of the man's skull sent him to the floor, and the rest of the men spun to face him in alarm at his vanishing act.

Eight left.

Kaien felt a smile start to tug at his lips. They all rushed forward again with their swords swinging.

He ran at them as well, and jumped with his sword bared. They met him in a cacophony of screaming metal and flying sparks. Sword swings were dodged or parried, and he spun and danced through them all. His blade shot out over and over with pinpoint accuracy to strike when he saw an opening, and the sun beat down to draw sweat from the gathered combatants.

His foot shot out into the back of a man's knee bringing him down to the other, and a flying kick from the side to the kneeling man's temple put him down for good. Kaien dodged under another blade that almost clipped his ear, and his own shot out to thrust at the attacker in retaliation.

The attacker spun out of the way, and Kaien jumped up to him, refusing to let him escape. He brought his blade down onto his opponent's katana in a downward arc, and sensed a second later that another man was running up to him to attack from behind. Kaien's knee instinctively shot up into his opponent's groin with the force of a punch, and he grabbed the now bent, wheezing man by the back of his neck to throw him into the other's trajectory. They both went tumbling down, and Kaien shunpoed forward to crack his clenched fist into the other's face.

He rolled away, and jumped to his feet with his sword at the ready. Five of the original ten men were left in front of him forming a loose half circle, and all of them much more wary then before. The grin he'd felt earlier grew a little bit more cocky.

This was fun.

They rushed forward again, and Kaien swung at the nearest man. Their blades met, and Kaien twisted their joined blades around in a circle until his opponent's lay beneath his. He pushed down hard on the blade while his foot lanced out into the man's unguarded stomach. The blade fell to clatter on the stone ground, and the man fell to his knees as he struggled desperately to breathe. Kaien sensed an attack coming and his body flowed sideways, bending his gut as best he could as a thrust came from his side.

He brought his blade around in a parry, but stars suddenly danced in his eyes when the hilt of a katana came sailing down through his blind spot to slam into the back head. It hit him just like he'd hit the other man earlier.

He stumbled sideways as he desperately tried to stay conscious, and he fell to his knees in his struggle. He blinked the stars away as best as he could, but upon looking up again he found two blades in his face and he felt two poised against his neck.

He blew air up from his mouth into his hanging hair, and it shifted out of his face. He sighed.

Damn.

"That was a good job Kaien. You almost beat your record of three…perhaps next time though. Yield?" the man in front of him said with a broad grin. He was one of the retainers, just like the rest of them, who had all volunteered to help him keep up with his training.

Kaien huffed a laugh in response and smiled good-naturedly up at his sparring partner while nodding, "Yeah, I yield, but I'll definitely get you all next time."

The retainer smiled again at his words, and extended a hand to help him to his feet. Kaien accepted, and grasped the extended palm. He climbed up and glanced around, and he immediately felt embarrassed remorse color his features. The other men were all climbing to their feet too, and groans filled the air as they all started limping away. Several of them called out to him with humor in their voices, despite the pain, 'Jesumcrow Kaien, did you have to kick me that hard?' and 'Nice work today Kaien, but I reserve my right to a day off tomorrow. Wow that hurt.' The good natured calls made him smile, despite the situation. That smile dropped though when he spied several men carrying the one he'd kneed in the unmentionables. He was still wheezing and his cries of pain filled the air.

Whoops. He reached up to scratch the back of his head sheepishly, and he silently promised to apologize for that later.

He picked up his sword to sheath it, and he bid farewell to his sparring partners as they retreated indoors. He turned to head into the Shiba manor as well, while idly rubbing the side of his head that was still throbbing, but he stopped when he saw his father making his way toward him with a relaxed pace.

Rōrensu Shiba was a tall man, which was normal for their family, and he was entirely bald. It wasn't from genetics or anything, he'd actually decided to shave his head, and had been doing so for many years. Rōrensu once mentioned in passing that it was because Kaien's mother liked it, but Kaien never paid much attention to things like that between his father and mother. He had a beard of grey hair that was close cut to only surround his mouth and chin, but it was long and fell down around his mouth and jaw.

Kaien wiped the sweat off of his face and greeted his father.

"Hey otousan. What's up? I thought you'd be inside with the others."

Rōrensu smiled over at him, and it could be seen easily through his beard, "Your mother is busy right now so I decided to come out to check up on you and to watch your spar. I must admit that you did very well. It would seem that you've been keeping up with your training. Although…such prowess does make me wonder…"

Kaien started sweating nervously. Uh oh.

"How hard are you working yourself out there son? Your fighting ability is remarkable considering how young you are, and how long you had tutelage all those years ago."

Kaien breathed a sigh of relief. He'd promised Ichigo that he wouldn't hash out his identity. Good thing his dad wasn't asking questions there.

"Eh well you know. I wake up early and train every morning, but that's about it. I guess all those years of that just add up," he lied smoothly, while wiping his knees to get rid of non-existent dust. If his father could see his face, then he'd know that Kaien was lying.

His father nodded his understanding, and patted him on the back when he straightened, "Very good, and you're taking time to pay attention to your siblings, right?"

Kaien nodded while wiping the sweat away again, and he noted that he probably stank to high heaven. He needed a bath pronto, and he'd have to get one before dinner started. He answered his father, "Of course dad. We do stuff together every day. You know I love playing with those two."

Rōrensu nodded with a smile, "Good good, come on then. Let's head inside. Dinner should be ready in about an hour, and you know how your mother gets when we don't show up on time."

Kaien smiled while nodding, and they meandered forward a few steps before his father suddenly stopped again. Kaien looked at him slightly confused for a moment. The Shiba clan head turned to him, and grabbed his arm gently as he leaned in to speak to him. There was a tone to his voice that worried Kaien. It sounded almost apprehensive.

"Kaien…I have a question for you. You haven't seen Erin around anywhere have you? The man has disappeared, and hasn't shown up at the compound for several weeks. We're starting to get worried."

Kaien blinked at him for a moment, and he tried to remember an Erin in their family.

"Who?" he inquired in confusion.

Rōrensu took a step closer, "You know who I'm talking about. He's been over several times, even back before you left. He's my youngest sister's husband's nephew. You two played together sometimes. He was older than you by several decades, but you both had a good time."

Kaien rifled through his memories and it clicked after a moment. He remembered who his father was talking about. Yeah…he remembered Erin. He hadn't seen him for years, what with him being away on his sabbatical for so long, but he remembered him. He also remembered that the guy was a tad…weird. Off in a way. He hadn't ever been able to put a finger on it, but other than the strange air about him Erin had been a pretty good guy.

He shook his head after a moment, "No…can't say that I have. I remember who you're talking about, but I haven't seen him since before my sabbatical."

His father nodded, but there was an edge of concern that graced his features for a few moments. It disappeared as quickly as it came, and he spoke up again with a laugh and a nudge into Kaien's ribs.

"Ah well, no matter. I'm sure he'll show up again sometime. There's no escaping this family, right?"

Kaien laughed along with his father, and he agreed. The Shibas were a tight nit family. You'd have to try really hard to lose them, and even if you tried they'd drag you right back into the fold kicking and screaming. Erin would turn up eventually, and probably get his ears boxed for disappearing in the first place.

They headed into the Shiba clan manor, and the smells of food along with exuberant shouts from the gathered family members who weren't working greeted them. People rushed this way and that, most of them sporting the Shiba color of dark blue along with the accompanying head of dark hair. They were all energized, and doing something. Anything from pranking, talking, laughing, and drinking. He peered around and his eyes lit up with mirth when he spied a couple of his relatives. It appeared that that list included wrestling. The retainers were all rushing around too, some were working while others were laughing right along with the family members.

Everyone was completely at home with one another.

Kaien smiled. Yeah, Erin would turn up again, and he'd receive a warm welcome from a family that loved him on his return.

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><p>Shunsui stood away from the others, and gazed at the surrounding Seireitei that lay beneath him through the side of Yama-jii's office. It looked peaceful down there in the streets close to the divisions, but he knew what was really going on down there. The peaceful setting belied the horrors that were occurring even now that the war was over. People were still dying. Shinigami and rukongai citizens alike, and they were all trying their best to contain it.<p>

He looked up and he could see the outlying districts far off almost beyond the horizon. The sight gave rise to more concern.

Smoke plumes rose out there. Billowing up from the still smoldering battlefields, and from the districts that had been set aflame in the chaos of the rebellion. The fires were still raging on, destroying whole chunks of the habitations to be found out there and there was nothing they could do. They would burn themselves out eventually, but at what cost? People lived out there, and their whole lives were disappearing before them in the spreading inferno.

It made him sick to his stomach.

Now there was a rampaging killer on the loose, and it would seem that after going through a rebellion, they would still see no peace. His heart went out to the citizens out there. If there was anyone who was truly suffering, then it was them.

"Something has to be done," Shunsui quietly commented as he turned back to face the office of the Soutaichou. He tilted his sakkat back to look around, "We can't let this continue any longer."

Retsu and Jushirou nodded in turn beside him, but both Ginrei and Yama-jii made no move to acknowledge his words. He supposed that he didn't really blame either of them. The Soutaichou wasn't the most outspoken person, deigning instead to formulate his own opinions while everyone else bickered, and Ginrei…well he didn't blame Ginrei at all for not wanting to speak.

This whole situation was bad, and everyone knew who it would reflect badly on when the dust cleared. The Kuchiki clan would be under fire for this for a long time coming.

Kuchiki Koga had gone rogue. He'd escaped his cell, and had killed the people who had 'framed' him for the murder of his own troops. None of them had believed it for a second of course. They had all known that Kuchiki Koga was innocent, they knew his ideals and his loyalties, but central didn't. Plus, central was afraid of the boy. They knew of his zanpakuto's power, and in all honesty…Shunsui didn't blame them for being afraid in this particular instance. They were a bunch of wary old fools, but it was well placed here. Even he was a bit wary of Muramasa's power. It had frightening abilities, and it was entirely too powerful for one man to wield.

Shunsui wasn't even sure if there was a right way to wield it in the first place. A shinigami's duty lay in slaying hollows, and ushering lost souls into the afterlife. Muramasa's abilities were intricately tied to disrupting the connection between a shinigami and his zanpakuto spirit. Hollows did not possess zanpakuto spirits, or even a shinigami zanpakuto. A few of the naturally occurring arrancar had them, but they were extraordinarily rare and as far as they could tell they didn't possess true zanpakutos. Muramasa had no practical use aside from slaying other shinigami, and while that had been a powerful asset for the rebellion in a very tragic way, going forward it would be entirely useless. With the rebellion over…all it was now was a threat to their fellow shinigami.

Now look at what it had come to. They'd known that Muramasa was going to be an issue at some point, but it was rapidly becoming more than just some issue. The situation was spiraling out of control, and Koga was lost to them. According to reports, after he'd killed the men who framed him he'd slowly gone even more berserk. Now he was killing anyone without regard to their intentions or standing. No one was safe, and rukongai citizens were being added to the number of people he'd killed.

Something needed to be done immediately.

"Calm yourself Shunsui," Yama-jii suddenly said from his seat, "Ginrei and I have already decided on what must be done."

The three of them shared glances, and Jushirou spoke up from his position next to Retsu, "And that is….?"

Yama-jii glanced sideways as Ginrei stepped forward. The lines of Ginrei's face spoke of his unhappiness in place of words. Shunsui could tell that he was trying his hardest to remain unperturbed, but it still showed.

The Kuchiki clan head answered in a quiet voice, "It falls to me to right this mistake. It is my responsibility. The Kuchiki clan must act, for it is one of our own that is causing this mayhem. The Soutaichou and I shall move in and deal with Koga. Do not worry, for none of you will be needed."

Shunsui started in surprise along with Retsu and Jushirou. They couldn't hide their disbelief either. For those two to go out there alone? Even the Soutaichou himself was wary of Koga's power. If Ryujin Jakka were to be turned against the old man, then the soul society would undoubtedly crumble with him. The destructive power of the Soutaichou's zanpakuto alone in the hands of Koga would be catastrophic. What were their intentions with this?

Shunsui spoke, "Are you both sure that is the best course of action? We all know what Koga can do, and with only two of you out there that might be an issue. Unless of course, you have a plan."

Ginrei nodded, "We do. The only way to stave off Koga's power is to close your heart to him. If you possess great force of will and mental fortitude, you can keep your zanpakuto under your own control, however that gives rise to another problem. By closing off our hearts to him, his power makes it so we can't kill him. While trying to keep our zanpakuto's under our own control, which takes constant and considerable effort, it would be extraordinarily difficult to strike him down. We will have to work in tandem, keeping our hearts closed to him, and attempt to seal him and his zanpakuto away. There is no other option."

"That may well be," Jushirou said, and there was a modicum of worry in his tone, "but we can still come along to help. If what you said is true, then I'm sure Retsu, Shunsui, and I can also combat the effects."

Ginrei shook his head, and he replied to Jushirou in a tired tone, "I appreciate the offer Ukitake-san, but no. The Soutaichou is accompanying me only because I know I can't do it by myself. I am certain that you could be of help, but I would ask that you remain here. This…this is my mistake. Koga's actions are a stain on my family's honor, and it must be me that makes it right. It is the Kuchiki clan's burden to bear, and I'm sure that you can respect that."

Jushirou backed down at those words, and they all acknowledged what Ginrei was trying to say.

This wasn't a fight for revenge or even a fight for peace. Those things were very much a part of it, but it was mainly a fight for something else. Something they could all respect.

It was a fight for honor, and they had no place in that kind of fight. They could tell that this was something Ginrei needed to do, and even if he was to die they couldn't step in. It would be wrong to. Between shinigami like them, to step in and attempt to stop a fight of honor would only lead to further disgrace. Disgrace that a Kuchiki, especially one of Ginrei's standing, would not tolerate.

Shunsui turned away again, and looked out the window once more. Storm clouds were gathering overhead he noticed. Good. They hadn't had any rain in what felt like weeks, and with the coming storm it would help to put out the fires that raged on the horizon.

This war needed to be cooled. It was long overdue after all.

He only hoped that they wouldn't have another tragedy on their hands after this nights passing, and that Koga Kuchiki would fall without a fuss.

* * *

><p>The sound of the rain that fell echoed in the cavern, and more droplets joined the rain as they too descended from the cave's roof. The noise as they hit the stone below joined the echo of the rain, but aside from that there was no further sound.<p>

That changed when Kuchiki Koga laughed menacingly from his seat on one of the large stones that littered the cave floor, and he stared down at the blade in his hands. His blade. The blade that he'd used to kill those who opposed him. Those jealous of him. Those jealous of his absolute power.

A twisted smile warped his face, and his broken face mask barely hid it as he stared down at his zanpakuto. He would make it right. He would cut them all down with his own two hands. They wanted to shun him? He'd kill them. They wanted to frame him? He'd kill them. They wanted to try and take his power away?

They'd have to try harder.

No one would stop him. Not those pathetic betrayers, not that jealous fool Ginrei, and not even the Soutaichou. His power was the greatest. It surpassed everyone. They would all fall to his blade, and they would regret having ever imprisoned him. They'd lied, and so he'd killed them. It was only right. It was his only option, and he'd keep on killing until they understood. He'd bring them all down, and he'd show them that he was the master. They would all fall to their knees, and they'd know true despair just like he did. He'd show them the truth, what true power was, and they would all pay dearly for their mistake.

He kept staring at his blade, almost entranced. So much power in his hands. So much power within him. All of it his own. There was nothing that anyone could do before his might. As long as he was the master of this blade, and his own strength, no one would be able to stop him.

Suddenly an echoing voice spoke up in the quiet, "…Koga."

He grunted and glanced over, and watched as his pathetic zanpakuto spirit manifested beside him.

"Oh. It's you," he said condescendingly. He didn't want to have to deal with this annoyance right now. He was in the middle of thinking about murder as it was.

Muramasa spoke up, and there was worry and concern in his tone, which in turn pissed Koga off, "Why did you kill all of those innocent people in the Rukon district?"

Koga looked back at his blade, and another twisted smile stretched across his face. He wanted to know did he?

"The reason is simple. I wanted to send a clear message to the soul society," he answered heatedly.

"A message? What for?" Muramasa asked beside him in confusion.

Koga glanced away from his blade then, and seething anger and mad twisted hate blossomed in his eyes.

"To show the hopelessness of ostracizing me from this world, and to show everyone how helpless the soul reapers are in the face of my power," he answered, and madness swiftly overtook the anger as he laughed darkly at the surrounding walls of the cave.

Muramasa refused to see it, refused to see how far his wielder had fallen, and he continued speaking, "But to accomplish that you go out and kill innocent people in the street? I don't see why that's necessary to help create our vision of an ideal new world. It seems pretty excessive."

Koga glanced sideways at him, and the madness was still swimming there in his green eyes.

"Our vision?"

He rose, and with his sword dangling in his hand reached forward with the other to grab Muramasa by the throat.

"What do you mean by the word _our_? You've got a lot of nerve! Tell me something, do you actually consider yourself my equal?!"

Muramasa blinked over at him in shocked alarm, and he struggled as he spoke, "Koga…"

Koga was yelling now, and anger bled into the madness in a swirling typhoon of reckless emotions.

"Let me remind you that you're my sword! So don't get too cocky, just do as you're told and kee-"

Suddenly, a hand came crashing down onto Koga's shoulder, and his grip on Muramasa broke as he was roughly flung backwards to sail through the air. He slammed bodily into the far stone wall, and Muramasa blinked up from his position on the floor at the stranger who had just appeared and harmed his master.

"Enough Koga," the hooded stranger said heatedly to the downed man as he watched the Kuchiki rise to his feet, "No more."

* * *

><p>This was it.<p>

He'd tracked Koga through several of the districts, following the path of destruction and bloodshed, and now he found himself here, outside of a cave standing in the rain.

The time had come.

Koga Kuchiki would die this night.

He knew the power that the man possessed, and he knew the strengths of his zanpakuto. He knew that if he closed off his heart, and repelled Muramasa then there would be no way to kill Koga. He'd have to let the zanpakuto spirit Muramasa in once more if he had any hope of ending this without needing a seal, and that would be bad. Maybe not for him, but definitely for Koga. Muramasa would not enjoy what he would find if he tried to tamper with Ichigo's spirits or his inner world.

Even if it would be bad, he wouldn't be able to use his zanpakuto so there were few avenues open to him. He'd make do of course, but it might be tricky.

It was good that he had several tricks up his sleeve then. He'd been saving them up for a rainy day as it was.

He walked out of the tree line, and made his way through the pouring rain over to the mouth of the cave. As he approached he started to hear things echoing out of the cave's entrance, and he began to recognize them as voices. Koga was in there alright, along with Muramasa.

Koga sounded pretty upset too.

He shunpoed right inside the cave, and peered around the corner trying to listen in while hiding his reiatsu signature. There, down the connecting cavern, he saw a much younger looking Koga then the one he'd known. The one that Byakuya had killed had been starved, and had looked almost inhuman. Kind of like a freshly resurrected mummy or something. This one appeared a lot more youthful.

Guess that's what happens when you get sealed away for several centuries. He still had that same broken face mask that crossed the bridge of his nose though. Muramasa was beside him looking the same as ever. Purple and white and feminine and depressing all in his own unique way.

Why did Koga have Muramasa by the throat?

The yells carried back to him down the length of the cave.

Ah. That was why. It looked like Koga had cracked. Just like Ichigo knew he would. From the looks of things he was about to start beating on Muramasa too.

Ichigo's fists clenched in sudden anger, and his scowled turned almost deadly. He had absolutely no pity for Koga. He had pity for Kaname when she'd descended into madness, but never Koga. This was that fool's own fault. He had no one to blame for his madness but himself, and here he was abusing Muramasa in that same gripping madness. No shinigami should ever treat their zanpakuto spirit like that, insane or not.

That was probably the biggest tragedy of Kuchiki Koga. He'd always thought that the power he wielded was his own, and that his zanpakuto was nothing more than a sword that had to follow his every command. He couldn't comprehend the idea of a partnership between zanpakuto and wielder. Similar in a way to Kenpachi Zaraki when Ichigo thought about it. Neither he nor Kenpachi knew what the bond was like. Kuchiki Koga never would either, and Ichigo did not pity him even slightly.

He wouldn't let this drag on any further either.

Ichigo took off in shunpo, and brought his hand down on Koga's shoulder in a steel grip. He pulled and flung the pathetic fool down the cave's passage for him to slam straight into the wall at the end of it. He cratered into the wall there from the explosive force, and several chunks of rock broke loose to fall from the ceiling.

Out of the corner of his eye he spied Muramasa on the floor struggling to regain his breath, while simultaneously staring up at him with wide eyes. Ichigo turned away, trying to avoid that particular problem for a little while longer, and he addressed Koga.

"Enough Koga…no more."

Ichigo disappeared again, and just as Koga righted himself a foot slammed into his head with absurd force. More force than Ichigo had needed to use in months, and in fact he probably hadn't used this much strength since the war with Aizen. There were no holds barred here, and Koga would regret having ever been born. Koga was launched sideways, and he blasted out of the cave's mouth. He tore through the air like a bullet to crash through several dozen trees, before he finally came to a stop.

Ichigo glanced back at where the spirit Muramasa had been standing, only to find no one there. He'd probably gone to his master's side then. Good. It was time to get this bloody show on the road, and he'd had enough of biding his time.

He shunpoed out of the cave and out into the large clearing that lay beyond it. It was wide and was lined by trees all around. An arena of sorts Ichigo idly realized. It fit the occasion. One of them wouldn't be leaving this clearing alive as it stood. The rain kept falling, and Ichigo looked up at the sky to let it fall directly onto his face. His clothing was starting to get soaked, but he didn't really mind.

He hated the rain itself though.

He'd always hated the rain. It reminded him of so many things. Like his very first failure in a long list of failures. It had rained the night of his mother's death, it had rained the day that he'd been stranded so far back in time, and just the same it would rain on the night that he killed Koga Kuchiki. It seemed that in his life, rain always heralded ill tidings.

"When it rains it pours eh?" he said quietly to no one in particular, and the surrounding silence answered him.

He looked down again, and stood there in the middle of the clearing to wait patiently. He could feel Koga making his way toward Ichigo at a slow pace, but he would be with him soon enough. He didn't feel like he needed to rush this. He wasn't aware of when the Soutaichou would seal the man, but the odds of it being tonight didn't feel high to Ichigo.

He kind of wanted to get out of the rain though, so he wished Koga would just get his ass over to him and die already.

Koga appeared at the edge of the tree line with his zanpakuto drawn, and a shunpo later brought him to several yards away from Ichigo. Koga stared at him in seething anger, and he inquired in a barely controlled tone, "Who the hell are you? Have you come to fight me?"

In a straight, quiet dead-pan Ichigo replied, "Obviously, or else I wouldn't have hit you."

Koga's face shifted into a sneer, "Really? Someone else who wants to try and defeat me. How ludicrous. Tell me, you're one of the people who is jealous of my power aren't you?"

Ichigo almost laughed, but he didn't and he shook his head instead, "No Koga. I am not jealous of your power. In fact, I don't think I could be jealous of you for anything."

Anger flooded Koga's face in place of the sneer, and his purple reiatsu started kicking up in his agitation.

"Then why are you here?! Did that fool Ginrei send you? He can't even be bothered to come here and confront me himself! He's probably terrified that I'll kill him!"

Ichigo shook his head again in growing exasperation, "No Koga. I don't know a Ginrei, nor did he send me. I'm here for the sake of people you don't even know, and now never will."

Koga cocked an eyebrow, "Oh?! So you _were_ sent by someone to kill me?! PATHETIC! You are a waste of my time! Nothing but a bloody servant that's come to do the bidding of others!"

Ichigo sighed, and he knew his words were wasted here. They would do absolutely no good in the face of such deep madness, but he kept speaking to the lunatic despite that.

"I _am_ a servant Koga. I'm a servant of the world, and your death is for the betterment of that world."

Koga stared at him for a few moments before he exploded in crazed laughter, "What the hell are you talking about?! This world will disappear soon enough! I'm going to destroy this one, and create my own new world that I can be a part of! A world of darkness, and a world where everyone can know despair!"

"You are a fool Koga," Ichigo said to him in the cascading rain, "You are a fool, and you can't even see it. You won't make a new world. I won't let you."

Koga brandished his katana, and he waved it in challenge. The madness grew more noticeable on his expression.

"HAHA! Listen to yourself! You think you can stop me?! You have no idea the power that I wield. You don't stand a chance against me! I am the most powerful shinigami to have ever lived, and I will be the one to rule this world!" Koga screamed as he ran across the grass at Ichigo with his blade sailing down in a striking arc.

Ichigo ripped his blades from their sheaths, and brandished them both. With a flash he blocked Koga's blade with his wakizashi, and he blurred past the rushing Kuchiki with his katana striking out like a dart. It grazed Koga's face at the hairline as Ichigo passed, and they both spun to face one another again after the split second exchange.

Koga stared in bewilderment at the two blades in Ichigo's hands, before he started in surprise when he felt blood start to trickle down his forehead from the slight wound. He reached up and touched the blood, and stared at it too like it didn't make any sense.

He looked up at Ichigo in total confusion, "Who the hell are you?! Is that you Kyoraku-taichou?"

Ichigo shook his head, and he reached up to withdraw his hood with his wakizashi wielding hand. It fell back to reveal Ichigo's rain drenched face and shaggy orange hair, and he answered, "No Koga. My name is Ichigo, and I'm the one who is going to kill you."

Koga stared at him for several more moments taking him in before his mouth turned into a sinister smile, "You're strong. Good. I wouldn't want to waste my time with a weakling. Now come over here and fight me!"

Ichigo almost rolled his eyes, and he sighed quietly with a shake of his head.

"You asked for it."

In the blink of an eye Ichigo was upon Koga.

The rogue Kuchiki suddenly found himself on the defensive, and he desperately tried to fend off Ichigo's swift strikes. Ichigo was a spinning demon of orange and black, viciously swinging his blades in rapid succession in blurring, slamming blows that blew the insane Kuchiki every which way. Koga tried to escape from the ridiculous onslaught several times with shunpo, but every time he did Ichigo would be on him again in a blink. He'd even been intercepted mid shunpo sometimes in a slam by the mysterious shinigami, and each time he was blasted across the field.

Koga slid across the grass again, and brought his blade crashing down onto the shinigami after his head with a crazed battle cry. Their blades met in a trio with the resounding ring of metal. Ichigo's two bringing Koga's one to a screeching halt in a cross block. They stayed locked for a moment before Ichigo yanked his wakizashi away unbalancing Koga. The Kuchiki stumbled forward as his balance was thrown, and Ichigo's katana shot forward to drag across the stomach of his foe. The sound of the blade tearing through flesh drifted up to Ichigo's ear, but he knew that it was a shallow blow. Not enough to bisect, or even slow down the Kuchiki.

Blood dripped onto the grass from the glancing gash, but Koga paid it no mind as he seemed to completely ignore the wound. He shunpoed forward to meet Ichigo with his weapon swinging in an arc, and they met again in a scream of metal. Koga picked up the pace and met Ichigo's speed with desperate swings. The both danced around each other, blades slicing through the rain, and Ichigo eventually locked Koga's blade in another block with his katana. Koga disengaged and swung from the left, and Ichigo's blade lanced up in a reversed block with the blade pointing down. He dragged his sword down the length of Koga's own with sparks jumping from the metal in a bid for the Kuchiki's neck, but Koga threw his head back allowing the blade to pass bare inches from his throat. He continued the dodge and threw himself backwards in a spinning leap through the air, and Ichigo blurred past him to come in from the side. Koga flipped back in a swinging kick that sailed at Ichigo's face, but Ichigo narrowly dodged it and they both blurred again.

They materialized again. Koga's blade shot forward with blinding speed as they met, and Ichigo allowed it to breeze past his nose. Koga spun with his blade, and Ichigo made to stab him though his spine, but the Kuchiki blurred again and blocked.

Koga leaned into the block and screamed at Ichigo through the pouring rain, "YOU'RE POWERFUL HAHA! BUT TRY THIS ON FOR SIZE!"

Koga shunpoed back in a blurring flip to land on the grass a few dozen yards away and his palm shot up to face Ichigo with his blade brandished horizontally before him, "HADO NUMBER 32: OKASEN!"

Yellow destructive energy exploded from Koga's blade in an arc and raced toward Ichigo, tearing up the field in its wake.

Ichigo's katana wielding hand shot up in turn with a blur, and his index finger ignited in burning, crimson reiatsu as he charged a powerful cero. The energy gathered in milliseconds, and it ripped from his finger with wild abandon. The animalistic reiatsu beam charged across the grass to intercept the kido blast, and the kido was engulfed in the crimson tide of power. Koga's eyes shot wide, and he shunpoed away to get out of the cero's blast. It tore up the field as it passed him, and it exploded in the tree line several hundred yards away with a resounding shock wave.

He rolled out of his shunpo and came to a stop on his knee with his hand extended again. "HADO NUMBER 31: SHAKKAHO!" he screamed as he fired another kido spell.

The ball of red energy raced at Ichigo, but he disappeared as it was halfway to him. He appeared again spinning through air in a deadly tornado of blades aimed for Koga's head, but the Kuchiki shunpoed away as well.

Ichigo turned to spy the Kuchiki high in the air above the field, and a green light glowed at the end of his zanpakuto.

"GAKI REKKO!" Koga screamed, and hundreds of bars of green energy shot from his blade to come careening for Ichigo.

Ichigo vanished into the air as they approached, and he blurred amongst them as they raced for him. He dodged each in turn in a mad dash to escape. The beams all tore up the ground below like the peppering of artillery shells, and the clearing was littered with brief explosions and craters.

He dropped out of shunpo when the onslaught ended, and he landed across the clearing from Koga with his finger extended again.

"Hado number 4: Byakurai," Ichigo calmly stated, and the pale lightning shot from his finger in a severely over powered version of the spell Byakuya always favored. The massive lance of energy sailed through the air with the speed of lightning, and Koga dodged in flips to avoid the attack. He shunpoed away as well, and materialized behind Ichigo with his hand out again.

"HADO NUMBER 33: SOKATSUI!"

The blast of blue energy tore through the clearing at Ichigo's turned back, but he spun and sheared his blade straight through the spell blasting it off to the side for it to tear through the trees. The sound of it exploding in the distance carried in the wind.

After a few moments, silence rang in the clearing save for the heavy breathing of the two combatants. Koga's hands danced along his stomach, and he wiped the blood away that had sprouted from the wound there without even wincing.

"You're very good Ichigo, but that will not save you! I grow tired of this exchange, and now you must die! In honor of your prowess I will use my full power to destroy you!"

Koga brought his zanpakuto up to point the blade at Ichigo through the rain, and Ichigo visibly tensed.

Here it goes. It was time.

Koga's face twisted into a manic grin, and he spoke in a quiet, menacing voice, "_Whisper, Muramasa_."

Purple reiatsu exploded from Kuchiki Koga, and it spread out in a massive ring to fill the entire field. It kept up, and the oppressive purple energy repeatedly blasted out of the Kuchiki over and over again. The ground quacked, and the trees bent and swayed in its overwhelming force.

Ichigo's feet slid back several inches due to the shock wave. He felt Shiro stir within his inner world, and his spirit spoke up in alarm, _**"Oi, the fuck is going on out there King?! Something's happening in here!"**_

'You're about to have a visitor Shiro. Take care of him accordingly. Give him a warm welcome.'

Manic laughter danced in his mind as Shiro realized what was going on and was suddenly _very_ excited, _**"OH MAN! I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS! WHERE ARE YOU, YOU PURPLE IDIOT! COME OUT HERE AND LET'S HAVE SOME FUN!"**_

Ichigo grinned lopsidedly at his spirit's antics, and he looked over at Koga as the blast ended. Rocks and chunks of the ground that had lifted off with Koga's shikai release fell and settled on the ground again. The wind died, and the force slowly let up.

The Kuchiki raised his fist and clenched it with that rampaging madness still in his eyes, "NOW! DIE ICHIGO!"

Ichigo almost chuckled.

Instead, he looked down at his katana that had a slight purple glow to it, and then threw it sideways to sail toward the forest and embed itself into one of the closest trees.

Koga Kuchiki blinked in confusion.

Ichigo almost chuckled again.

"I don't need my zanpakuto to defeat the likes of you Koga," Ichigo said to him, and his voice carried across the field, "Now watch. You think you possess true power?...I'll show you power."

The wakizashi in his other hand suddenly disintegrated, and reiatsu of the purest black exploded around Ichigo in an unholy torrent of spiritual energy. Koga visibly flinched, and his knees shook under the weight of the oppressive reiatsu. The ground beneath Ichigo cratered under the weight of his spiritual pressure, and the stones and chunks of earth that had just been set down lifted off again. This time though they started to completely disintegrate before Koga's very eyes. The surrounding trees shook, and some of them were even uprooted under the force. Kuchiki Koga's arm came up to shield his face from the seemingly unending blast, but it dropped soon after to stare in open wonder at what was happening before him.

There, within the center of the roiling, overwhelming reiatsu, a change was taking place. Kuchiki Koga's ears picked up a sound within the raging cacophony, and he listened as it slowly grew in volume.

Ichigo was yelling his lungs out.

Koga watched as the orange haired man he'd been fighting changed in appearance.

Ichigo's hair exploded in length, reaching far down to touch the small of his back, and it bled into pitch black ebony.

His eyes drained from the brown they'd once had, and bled into the reddest crimson of a demon from hell.

The yelling ceased, and the reiatsu suddenly dissipated leaving Koga off balance with the abruptly vanishing force. Ichigo slumped for a moment, and Koga heard his opponent groan briefly in apparent pain.

Suddenly, a blast similar to Koga's own shot out of Ichigo with the accompanying shock wave, but his was entirely black and far stronger. The rings spread across the clearing, only to sink and cover the ground in a far reaching shadow that stretched from one tree line to the other.

Koga's eyes widened in awe…and apprehension.

Two midnight wings of stretching black feathers unexpectedly exploded from Ichigo's back, and Koga almost fell on his ass in his surprise. The apprehension grew in strength by tenfold.

They reached far, with a massive wingspan, and they flapped several times in the pouring rain. Several feathers broke loose, and drifted to the ground to melt into the shadow that had pooled around their ankles.

Ichigo's demon eyes cracked open again and found him. The stare pierced his heart, and an uncharacteristic fear settled in the pit of his stomach. A fear that the madness couldn't brush aside.

Koga heard a carrying whisper in place of Ichigo's earlier yell.

"Quincy Vollstandig: Mugetsu."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note continued: ALRIGHT. WOW. YES. SO.<strong>

**So everyone sit down. I'm gonna learn you a thing today. It probably isn't true, but well it's head canon so whatever right? Ichigo learned the final getsuga tensho when he didn't have his true zanpakuto right? It was back when he was still wielding the quincy fake one. So. Knowing that let us examine some things. (Remember this could all be pointless bullshit)**

**Uryu uses the sanrei glove right? Gets all uber powerful by quincy standards. The draw back. He can't remove the glove in most any circumstance, and if he does remove that glove he gets to use his super-duper cool final technique, but at the cost of his quincy powers. **

**Ichigo learns the "final getsuga tensho" Gets uber powerful by shinigami standards. The draw back. If he uses the power he gets to use his super-duper cool final technique, but at the cost of his "shinigami" powers. (Remember he's still using the power given to him by his quincy manifestation) By the way...what do I spy on Ichigo's hand? Is that a new glove that he apparently can't remove because his sword is now like grafted to his hand. Huh. Well then. Oh it disolves into energy when he uses it? Really?**

**How _does_ uryu regain his powers anyway? Oh yeah he trained with his father. Supposedly, the only method that is able to restore a quincy's power after it's been lost using the sanrei glove method is for the subject to be under extreme mental and physical duress. As soon as that point is reached the person needs to be shot with a spiritual arrow right next to the heart. Boom. It happens and Uryu regains his powers. **

**How _does_ Ichigo regain his powers? What are the circumstances? Oh right. He's under EXTREME MENTAL AND PHYSICAL duress because of the fullbringers. So what happens? Oh right. With those conditions coincidentally met he gets stabbed right next to his heart by a spiritual sword filled to the brim with reiatsu. Boom. It happens and Ichigo regains his powers. **

**Okay. Lets take a look. Coincidence? I THINK NOT. (okay it probably really isn't anything but a big coincidence but hey it was worth a shot and it does kinda sorta maybe doesn't make sense.) **

**Anyway, so that's my explanation for why Ichigo's vollstandig transformation is so reminiscent of his old Mugetsu transformation. Bite me. (Crossing my fingers hoping you guys actually like it)**

**On another note. I also am taking suggestions for ideas going forward. If there is anything that you all want to see in this fic drop me a review or a PM. No promises of course, but hey. I'll listen with both ears open. **

**I have a tumblr now by the way. gone-wanderlust. I'll post the occasional excerpt there if updating is slow (they won't be finished products), and I'll be taking requests on drabble and other nonsense. Although, I am warning you. I don't really know how to operate tumblr (Terrible isn't it?)**

**IMPORTANT: Alright guys. Hold up. This is getting crazy. (Incest? Seriously? Shivers worse than the unohana suggestion) Okay, let me restate. It will not be Rukia. It will not be Orihime. It will not be an OC. It is not going to be that far out there. I will laugh for seven years because it's going to be a damn funny romance to write. You will not expect it because of the circumstances. The pairing is not something from way out in left field. I love you all. End of line.**

**IamADisco, I swear you are far too kind. Thank you so much for your kind words. **

**Ecomadness: I don't even know. Like for real. No idea. **

**Blarg7865: They were doing that originally, and as soon as they saw how powerful aizen was they started planning over again. I guess.**

**Pennameisblank: You still alive? You okay? You didn't like die after reading the last chapter did you? You're review hinted at the apocalypse soooo...**

**Ninjapanda16: They were all in deep conversation, and Ichigo was across several buildings and really trying to keep his reiatsu in check to avoid detection. Thank you for the kind words by the way. Warmed my dead heart. (It has to be dead to write this brutal, messed up stuff you know?)**

**Friaku: I am prostrating myself in apology. Thanks for reviewing friend. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. **

**Kragh50: I actually have a plan friend. It will be dramatic, and crazy, and you might just hate me for it. I love you for loving my fanfic.**

**Shiko-Rae: (nods in your direction) Good to see you. Yes. Yes. You are always welcome here. **

**elitenoob100: You're totally insane for liking this horrible shit that I'm posting. Come here. Let me hug you. **

**Rain in March: (points at you) I like you. Stick around...please.**


	11. To The Home I Hope To See Again

**Disclaimer - I do not own anything from Bleach**

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><p>Warnings: AU, Time Travel, Ichigo-centric, violence, language, Romance<p>

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><p><strong>Author's Note: Okay everyone, here we go. This will be the last chapter for a while. Explanation as to why can be found below. Hold onto your asses. Shiro gets the spot light. Thank you to Cywscross once again for being wonderful, and also my beta Garrus. He's taken a lot of hits trying to touch up my chapters all the time. Please leave a review if you feel up for it. <strong>

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><p>Chapter 11: To The Home I Hope To See Again<p>

Muramasa fazed into existence, and then stumbled slightly when the blasting wind and pelting rain all around him caught him off guard. His clothes immediately started getting soaked in the downpour, and his dark brown hair turned matted and began sticking to his head. He glanced around sharply, and then blinked at his surroundings in confusion.

What was this?

He'd been to many inner worlds…but none were ever like this.

He looked around, and as far as he could see there was nothing but towering structures of metal and glass. They were all varying in height and width, and they all had a…broken appearance to them. They were all destroyed in some way, and yet still standing. He realized with a start that he was standing on one of his own, and he strode forward to look down over the near edge.

Far below him, almost beyond the point that he could see, was the ground. It glinted with strange lights, and he couldn't decipher what the source was. He looked up at the stormy sky to study it. It roiled and raged with purple and black storm clouds, and there wasn't an inch of the sky that could be seen behind their stretching cover. It was raining heavily with massive drops that felt like arrows with how fast they fell with the wind, and massive bolts of lightning danced both close and in the distance. The bolts of electricity struck the metal and glass structures repeatedly all around, and each time he could see the glass shatter on impact.

He realized a second later what the light source from before was, and another glance down confirmed it. Those were glass shards down there, and the light was the reflection of the lightning off of the millions of broken pieces.

He glanced around again for another assessing look.

What had happened here?

Every inner world he'd ever been to had either been half formed, or relatively peaceful. They were all different in appearance of course, each was a reflection of the individual soul, but what this reflection spoke of gave him pause. This was the first one he'd ever been to where it seemed like it was almost at war with itself. Destruction was all around him, and he couldn't fathom why. What could possibly make an inner world appear like this? When his own master was troubled the result was the occasional tidal wave and high water levels, but Koga's inner world had never shown this much apparent distress. His soul had been extremely troubled lately, but never enough to destroy his inner world's surroundings.

His curiosity got the better of him. Muramasa knelt there, and he extended a hand to touch the ground's surface for a brief moment.

He snatched his hand back almost instantaneously after his fingers brushed the surface, and he stared at his own hand in slight horror.

WHAT?!

He stared at the ground dumbfounded, and his heart shook as the last vestiges of what he'd briefly felt faded.

He hesitated for a moment longer before reaching forward again, tentative this time, and gently laid his palm against the ground. He forced himself to keep it there, and after a few seconds it became a real struggle to do just that.

His mouth twisted into a heavy grimace. One that he couldn't even try to keep in check.

Oh god.

A few seconds later he retracted his palm.

That was why. He glanced around at the inner world surrounding him. This inner world had every reason to be in such a state.

He was amazed that the soul hadn't fallen apart further as it was. So much pain…

He couldn't even begin to imagine. It was too much for him to fathom.

He pitied this man. There was so much pain and turmoil within this very soul that part of him was grateful that his master was fighting him to the death. No one should ever have to feel such overwhelming pain, and Koga would be able to put this wretched soul out of its misery. Once he died then he wouldn't have to feel like this any longer. Death would be a blessing compared to this.

"_**Heh…ya made a big mistake comin here."**_

Muramasa jumped slightly in surprise. He spun around and his blade materialized in his hand as he did. His eyes tore around searching for where the voice had come from, but there was no one there. Just the pouring rain and flashing lightning.

"_**You'd think that once would be enough…but I guess I have ta beat your ass again. Maybe you'll stay down this time eh?"**_

Muramasa spun again back the other way toward the disembodied voice, but his eyes once again found nothing.

What was this?

That voice made it sound like they'd fought before, but he knew that he'd never been to an inner world such as this. Mind games perhaps?

"Show yourself," he called to the invisible voice, "Where are you zanpakuto spirit? Come to me, and I will liberate you from your shackles of subservience to your shinigami master. Don't you want that?"

Manic laughter answered him, and he couldn't turn to face it because it seemed to come from all directions at once. He gripped his blade tighter, and his nerves started to get the better of him. Whatever this spirit was playing at it made his skin crawl. That laughter sent cold chills down his spine, and he starting hoping that the spirit would materialize already so he could get out of this horrible inner world.

"_**Well now…"**_ the spirit said, and the unnatural, eerie double timbre of the voice danced in Muramasa's ears and inside his skull,_** "A vacation does sound nice. I would like a few days away from my idiot king." **_

Muramasa saw a chance there and he gestured at himself, "Then come to me! I can help set you free! You won't have to live in this pathetic world any longer."

More laughter could be heard, and it grew wilder and higher pitched. Psychotic even.

"_**You know, I kind of want to take you up on that offer…but every time I think about it I can't help remembering."**_

Muramasa was suddenly blasted sideways off of his towering structure, and he slammed into the neighboring one's side with the force of a freight train. Glass exploded outward on impact to fall to the ground far below, and he felt metal beams bend and collapse behind his spine from the brute force. He struggled to blink the stars out of his eyes, and he suddenly realized with a strangled gasp that he couldn't breathe. His hand wielding his katana was trapped in another steel grip too, and he felt icy cold flesh against both his wrist and neck. Razor sharp claws were there, and they scraped against his skin in the foreign hold.

He blinked several times to try and regain his sight and clear the rain, and his eyes found something straight out of a horror story.

A white demon had him by the neck, and misty steam escaped the skull like visage with each exhale. Deadly pointed horns stretched forward and rested on either side of his face, and his organs instinctively tightened in fear when he saw the eyes of the beast. Glowing and golden, they stared at him with manic wrath swimming in their depths. Insanity and a wild desire for violence bore into him, and his fear grew exponentially. It was muscled to an extreme extent, and there resting beneath its neck was a gaping hole that was completely barren of flesh.

Like a hollow's own.

"_**I ALWAYS REMEMBER HAHA! I CAN'T LEAVE! FOR WHAT WOULD A KING BE WITHOUT HIS HORSE?!"**_

The grip tightened, and Muramasa's eyes bulged as he struggled desperately to escape. His palm shot forward to slap against the tattooed chest of the beast, and he forced his reiatsu into the demon in an attempt to warp its mind. He tried desperately to shift the monster's allegiance to turn him against his master, but nothing seemed to happen. His power met a veritable stone wall. His mind swarmed with furiously confused thoughts as to why it wasn't working, and he grew increasingly more desperate. The grip remained, and the eyes stayed the same. Just as insane, and drowning in a desire for bloody murder.

"_**HAHA! YOU STILL THINK THAT'S GOING TO WORK THIS TIME AROUND?! NICE FUCKING TRY!"**_

This time around?

That thought was lost seconds later as he was flung sideways at break neck speeds to slam into another building. He tore straight through it, shattering glass and blasting through steel beams, to fly out the other side and tumble through the air. He slid as his feet found traction on gathered reishi high in the air, and his senses roared to life making him look up. The beast had conjured up a black blade, and was careening down toward him from on high. Muramasa's katana flashed out to block a downward strike from the beast as it came sailing at him from above, but his platform collapsed under the strength of the blow and he was blasted down through the air. His surroundings blurred as he flew, and he started falling faster than the rain.

The monster gave chase to appear before him in a flash, and he tried to block each reckless strike as best he could. Each blow blasted him in another direction, and he was repeatedly shot through buildings over and over in their battle.

In a desperate bid to escape the onslaught he melted into a building as soon as he was blasted into it, and he paused to catch his breath from inside the structure. He wiped the rain from his face, and stared out of the transparent wall to stare at the spirit that had now come to a stop several dozen meters away.

He could see it now.

The beast was a hollow. Its reiatsu was everywhere, and it gave off that signature feel. However, it was also a zanpakuto spirit. He'd felt it when he'd tried to warp its mind earlier. How that could even be possible escaped him, but the plain truth lay right before him. Was that why his mental suggestion hadn't worked?

What was he going to do?

It fought with a wild sort of reckless abandon, and it overpowered him at every step. It was entirely instinctual too, so that every attack he made in retaliation was blocked as soon as it was made. Its speed was absolutely ridiculous, and was well beyond anything he could possibly match. His only saving grace on that front was that every time it used its strange version of shunpo there was a weird sort of static that accompanied it. It gave him enough warning each time to keep his head attached to his shoulders.

One thought screamed louder than all the others though.

Without his mental suggestion, what was he supposed to do before such an onslaught? Plus, if he couldn't turn the monster was his master's foe still capable of fighting him? He'd never encountered a situation like this before, so he had no idea what was happening outside or what to do in here. Koga had very few other options when it came to combat without Muramasa's ability, and Koga hadn't learned Bankai yet.

His thoughts shattered moments later when a cackle ripped from the throat of the beast.

"_**YOU THINK YOU CAN HIDE FROM ME MURAMASA-CHAN~?! THIS IS MY WORLD, AND YOU CAN'T HIDE HERE!"**_

Muramasa's eyes shot wide when the beast bent forward, and a burning red light started gathering between its horns. He could feel the powerful energy being gathered from here, an absolutely cataclysmic amount, and it was forming into some kind of attack.

Whatever it was, it was aimed right at him.

He tore himself from the structure in a desperate bid to get away, and the tail end of his white coat was caught in the monumental blast that he narrowly escaped. The force of the crimson beam that narrowly passed him sent him careening away to crash through several more building, and when he came to a stop his eyes bulged as he witnessed the aftermath of whatever the attack had been.

Buildings were crashing down in a straight trajectory for as far as his eyes could see, and several of the tops had been completely obliterated. They all looked like a cylindrical beam of energy had torn straight through them, gutting them, and leaving perfectly circular holes in a few. Huge clouds of dust and broken debris flew every direction as the massive buildings toppled, and they slammed into one another with resounding crashes that shook the world with their volume. The air warped around where the attack had been, almost as if the very fabric of the inner world was under immense strain and was threatening to collapse.

Muramasa hastily gathered his wits, unsteadily pulled himself from the wreckage, and righted himself to shoot toward the beast in shunpo while its back was still turned. He swung his katana down in a bisecting arc, but the monster spun again on instinct and caught his blade with its bare hand. Sparks jumped from his blade as if it was being dragged across metal, and it came to a grinding halt within the spirit's grip. He tried to wrench it away again, but he couldn't yank it loose. The monsters hand blurred, and his whole head was suddenly engulfed in its palm as it roughly grabbed him by the face.

The hollow zanpakuto spirit shot forward in its own version of shunpo to carry them both up and to the top of one of the structures in a flash. They came crashing down on its top, and the creature roughly started slamming his head over and over into the ground. It cratered beneath them, and after several slams the ground gave way for Muramasa to dangle there over the far reaching black hole. Chunks of metal and some form of stone broke off, and the sound of them bouncing off of other metal beams as they fell down the length of the building could be heard.

The spirit flung him away with a twist of its wrist, and he tumbled to a stop again on more reishi. He righted himself with a shake, and immediately started conjuring up illusionary images of himself to attack his enemy. He raced forward with the dozen he'd made, planning to gut the monster while it was confused. To his surprise the monster paid none of them any mind, and met him again with its blade. They traded several blows before Muramasa made a hasty retreat, not having expected that outcome to his ploy.

He called to the monster through the rain and over the blasting thunder, "HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS? EXPLAIN!"

The monster cackled again, and more steam escaped its skull like visage. It yelled at him with insanity dripping from its every word while brandishing its sword, "_**OH DEAR! IS MURAMASA-CHAN CONFUSED?! HAHA, THOSE LITTLE ILLUSIONS WON'T WORK ON ME AGAIN YOU FUCKING IDIOT! ONCE WAS ENOUGH!"**_

Muramasa shook his head in confusion, "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT YOU FOOL? WE'VE NEVER FOUGHT BEFORE!"

A white clawed hand came up to wag its finger at him in a testy gesture, _**"NOW WHY SHOULD I TELL YOU HAHA?! YOU'RE NOT GONNA BE ALIVE PRETTY SOON! COME OVER HERE AND DIE!"**_

The beast rushed forward with its blade swinging down, and Muramasa hastily threw up his hands and shot out his spirit threads. The invisible limbs wrapped around the spirit, halting him in the air, and Muramasa watched as it struggled against his bindings. For a fleeting moment he thought he'd managed to stop him, but that hope started fading when the immense strength of the monster proved more powerful. It ripped the invisible bindings away from its arm, and the blade it wielded came down to slice through the rest.

Muramasa kept desperately shooting them out trying to outpace its sword swings, and eventually the monster's arms became trapped and heavy laden with the bindings. It raged and shook as it thrashed in the spiritual threads, and Muramasa blew a sigh of relief. He glanced down at his katana, and with another sigh readied his blade to move in for the kill. He'd never had to kill a fellow zanpakuto spirit, and he wasn't looking forward to doing this.

It was for his master though, so he had no choice.

He blinked as his senses flared a warning, and then he realized his mistake for thinking the monster was stopped.

He cursed as he moved to dodge out of the way of another of those crimson blasts. It was practically point blank, and it caught half of his body this time. He screamed bloody murder as the energy engulfed him. Bones cracked, and flesh burned. His focus shattered due to the pain, and the threads vanished with it.

He fell from the sky like a limp ragdoll, his entire side roaring with blinding pain, and then all of a sudden a new pain flared to life throughout his whole being.

_Master_.

Koga was dying.

He could feel it. He could feel it everywhere. In his mind. In his limbs. In his heart. His very essence was screaming out in pain. His master was going to die. The end was coming.

"_**LOOKS LIKE OUR TIME IS UP YOU PURPLE BASTARD! THANKS! IT WAS FUN WHILE IT LASTED!"**_

The visage of the beast appeared in the rain before him as he fell, and then suddenly a blade tore straight into his diaphragm.

Blood flew through the air.

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><p>"What are you?"<p>

The question hung in the air with an eerie sort of apprehension to it. Koga backed up several steps as he said it, and his feet dragged through the shadows that had pooled at his ankles like he was walking through mud. Fear and anger were the prominent emotions that lay in his green, straining eyes and on his half masked face. Those emotions were only exemplified by the madness that Koga was drowning in. He couldn't process what he was seeing, nor the events that had let up to it. He couldn't believe his own fear, and his manic anger grew in its stead.

Ichigo stood up straight while rolling his shoulders, and his ridiculously long black hair swayed behind him with the movement. It was seemingly dry again, but that was swiftly changing with the downpour all around them. His robes were still completely drenched, and were now firmly stuck to his skin too.

However, his wings were still magnificent despite the rain. The purest black stretching like the night sky. The feathers shook lightly as he stretched, and Koga took another step back out of intimidation. They were like an angel's own, and yet wholly inverse. They radiated in their own unique way. As if an aura surrounded them, but was slowly diminishing as the transformation faded. An aura of death and abyss. Of pain and oblivion. Those wings were a testament to things Koga couldn't even comprehend. To things no one could ever fully understand. They were a representation of events that had happened, and would now never come to pass.

Ichigo flexed them for a moment in an experimental wing beat, before he took off with several powerful flaps of the ebony limbs. He hung in the air then, and he looked down at Koga through the rain.

Their eyes met again, and Koga heard Ichigo speak while raising his hand in a gently closing fist.

"Mugetsu: Schatten Griff."

Koga felt his stomach ice over when those words reached his ears, and then that feeling was numbed as his mind was washed. Like a painting set in the pouring rain to allow the colors to blend and cascade down as the image was lost. Dark fingers combed through the sea of sinking colors. His thoughts melted only to be replaced by a mass of the lost sanctity and broken emotions.

Those eyes were different. Entirely foreign. Wrong even. They bore a weight that crushed him. The crimson orbs trapped him in his place with their stare, and Koga felt like every action he'd ever taken was like an open book before them both. He was being judged. This monstrous being was looking into him, like his whole life was laid bare, and those eyes spoke of what he thought of Koga.

'_You need to learn control if you ever hope to master your own power.'_

Those eyes saw past flesh and bone, right down to the very essence of his being. They saw everything he had been, and everything he'd yet to be. His future, his past, his beliefs, his aspirations, and the shadows writhed violently around his ankles.

'_I see…try not to tarnish our family name in the process.'_

What they witnessed was nothing to impress or disgust. There was nothing but frank dismissal. The shadows stretched and climbed up his legs.

'_You brought this on yourself Koga, your own reckless actions are why you are here in this cell.'_

Those eyes saw absolutely nothing of value. He was pathetic. His existence didn't even matter.

He was waist deep in the crawling oblivion.

'_You are a murderer. You are to be executed now, and no evidence will be able to save you.'_

"Can you feel it Koga?"

He didn't even notice the shadows that now writhed on his chest, and how they were crawling to his neck. He was lost in those blood red eyes.

The angelic demon spoke again while glancing around at the shadows below breaking their eye contact, "Do you know what is happening? Can you feel it in your soul?"

Koga's heart was drowning, his own self-hatred and doubts clawing at his thoughts. His emotions quivered like a straining thread just waiting to snap.

Wisps of black crawled like smoke as the shadows grew all around, and the surrounding forest vanished in the ever expanding darkness. The grass beneath them was already covered from the initial transformation, and all that remained to be seen was the cloudy night sky above. The rain kept falling, each drop another nail in Koga's coffin.

Koga found his voice and he asked in a quivering terror filled tone, "What are you doing to me?! What is this?!"

The monster gestured around, "You are in my realm now Koga. My realm of shadow and darkness. Every single shadow is mine to command…even your own."

Koga twisted his head in alarm when he heard a foreign noise behind him, and what he saw made him stumble backwards through the ocean of black. Now before him, rising out of the sea of inky darkness, was himself. A copy of him in every way save for its coloration. The being that was called forth lacked any color, and was in fact the absence of color. It was painted entirely black, just like Koga's own soul. No face could be seen, but it did move, and it drew its blade to point at the cowering Kuchiki.

Koga never blinked as he half stared half scurried away to put some distance between himself and his moving shadow. It made no move to follow him though, but he shouted in horror when black hands reached out of the ground to grasp at him with intent. He batted them away while jumping to his feet, and he stumbled away in a desperate frenzy to escape.

Ichigo spoke up again, and his voice seemed to come from all directions, "However, I will not end you with that Koga…no I have something special planned for you. You will pay for your crimes. All of those innocent people from the rukongai will have their recompense…I know you can feel it."

Koga spun around to try and find Ichigo, and he stared up at the hovering monster again. He immediately regretted looking, and he dropped his eyes to the shadows around him once more. He couldn't look in those eyes again. He couldn't even blink, because whenever he did he'd see those damn eyes haunting him from the shadows of his eyelids.

"You can't escape it Koga. I already told you that I control all shadows…and I've been working this whole time on a very special one. One that is very important to you."

Koga jumped in surprise when there were suddenly feet before him, and a straight kick to his jaw blasted him onto his back. A hand was at his throat before he'd even recovered, and he found himself hoisted up into the air only to be greeted by those eyes.

He drowned in the abyss. His soul screamed as the grip on it tightened.

"I've got your most important shadow within the palm of my hand Koga…the shadows of your thoughts…can you hear the whispers?"

Koga started crying like a pathetic runt. He swung his sword weakly, and Ichigo caught it only for the blade to crack in his grip.

"I have every shadow of a doubt that you possess in your little crazed mind under my control. Every doubt…every regret…every broken promise…every failed expectation…I have them. Can you feel them? Can you feel how they writhe?"

Every failure was brought back in stark color, every time his father in law had shunned him, every time his wife had begged him to listen to Ginrei, his humiliating arrest, his brutal murder of those men, his downward spiral into madness, his own clawing despair, his own burden of self-doubt, his own deep seated hatred for himself.

They swarmed his brain, and they ate his mind alive. Time lost any true meaning. Minutes felt like decades, and hours like seconds. He couldn't even see the demon anymore. He was blind to Ichigo now. He couldn't even feel the tight grip on his throat.

He could hear him though.

"You are a murderer Koga. You've killed dozens of innocent people, and for that there is no true punishment. You dying isn't enough to pay for all of their deaths. They outnumber you by far. So this will have to do. I will make you pay with more than just your life…and then once you've-"

The voice stopped abruptly, but Koga barely registered it. He heard distant noises that seemed to dance in his ears, something like 'Really? Tonight?' before the voice spoke again.

"You're lucky Koga. It would seem we have some uninvited guests who are making their way toward us."

Koga couldn't even spare a second to try and understand what the voice was saying.

"I can't kill you unless I open my heart to you…and you will regret that fact. My heart is something you really don't want to see, but unfortunately for you there isn't any other way to kill you. You think that you are the only one who knows what true pain is like? You are wrong Koga, and I will teach you what it really is."

Suddenly, a blade of violent roiling black reiatsu ignited in Ichigo's hand, and it shot forward to stab Koga straight through his heart as he dangled in Ichigo's grip.

"Let me show you what it really feels like to have your whole world crumble around you."

Blood cascaded to the ground like the pouring rain. Koga's tears fell from his unblinking eyes, and his voice tore itself apart as he screamed.

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><p>Koga's body dropped from Ichigo's grasp, and it thumped on the ground like a dead weight. He paused for a moment in consideration before he stepped around the dead man's feet, and he bent down to gently close Koga's wide blank eyes. He stepped back again, shook his wings idly to shake off some of the water, and then gazed down at the still warm corpse. He shook his head with a sigh.<p>

Koga had died badly.

A proud death was one were you accepted it, were you were at peace with it, or were you went down fighting.

Koga had died like a snotty fool, crying and wailing in his anger and pain. He hadn't even tried to fight back.

Ichigo supposed that he didn't really blame him though. Schatten Griff was one of his more nasty Vollstandig abilities, and Koga was just the type who would break under it.

Ichigo could grasp any shadow that existed near him while using Schatten Griff, even the shadows of the mind, and bend them to his will. It wasn't exclusive to the mind, but that had been the most effective here. It was particular when it came to that though. His hold on the dark thoughts could be broken if the person had enough force of will, or if the thoughts weren't dark enough. For example, it would probably have zero effect on someone like Mashiro. Koga had had plenty of very dark thoughts. Plenty of shadowy doubts that fit Ichigo's needs perfectly.

It had been child's play to have all of them rise up and swarm him at once, effectively swallowing his mind.

It hadn't been pretty though.

Regret suddenly welled up in him then as he stared at the corpse. It wasn't regret for killing Koga specifically, but regret for having to kill in general. He'd done a lot of killing of late, during his own war, at the Oda clan, Erin Shiba, and later with Kaname.

He was afraid of what he was becoming when it came to that. He barely noticed it now. Almost like it was becoming second nature. Killing should never be second nature for anyone, and if it was then that was just a mark of how far a person had fallen. No one should take life without thought.

He couldn't let that happen to him.

He shook his head while clearing his thoughts. Now wasn't the time. Koga had needed killing, even though he regretted being the one who had dealt the death blow.

A future disaster was averted, and he didn't regret that at least.

Ichigo picked up several signatures making their way toward him, and one was definitely the Soutaichou. He'd noticed them earlier, but they were closer now. He rolled his eyes. He didn't know the actual odds of the night of the sealing being this night, but it was just his luck that it was. There were several other signatures near him, and Ichigo vaguely recognized one of the others. Probably the current Kuchiki captain, since it was Koga that was supposed to have been sealed.

He needed to leave then.

He moved to turn away, sparing one last glance at Koga's dead body.

Even after killing him, Ichigo still couldn't find it in him to pity the dead fool.

Ichigo shook his Vollstandig wings again to rid them of water, and was about to take off into the rainy sky when a weak voice reached his ears.

"W-wait…"

Ichigo paused for a few moments with his back still turned. He slowly closed his eyes, and then released a long drawn out sigh.

Damn it.

"_**Ooooooooooh…The purple prick is still alive?! This'll be good! Zangetsu, get over here and watch this!"**_

Ichigo's temper flared mildly, 'I thought you had him handled Shiro!'

He felt rather than saw his spirit's nonchalantly shrug, _**"Hey, don't look at me. Ya didn't give me enough time, and I beat his ass pretty badly anyway. See for yourself."**_

Ichigo sighed again, and then slowly turned to look down at the crumpled form of Muramasa.

Ichigo blinked down at the mess before him. Well then.

Shiro hadn't been kidding.

Half of the spirit was heavily singed. Ichigo idly noted that he'd probably taken a cero point blank. Only a cero could really cook someone in that particular way. Scattered black bruises covered his visible skin and face, and he was pretty beaten all over. Numerous gashes dripped blood onto the muddy ground of the recent battlefield. One of his hands looked broken, making it look twisted and unnatural, and the other was pressed against his upper stomach where he was bleeding heavily. Shiro had probably gutted him there, and that would be the wound that ended it.

He looked about ready to die.

Muramasa stretched out his broken hand, "P-please…wait."

Ichigo paused for a moment, debating on whether he should leave or not, before giving in. He took several steps forward, and knelt there beside the dying spirit. He still had his black reishi blade in his hand though just in case. The spirit's broken hand reached forward and snagged his hakama's edges in his feeble grip.

"Please…d-don't leave."

Ichigo looked down into the eyes of Muramasa. They stared up at him, swimming with pain, but there was something else there in those orbs. There was a lost look to them. Like Muramasa didn't even know what to do with himself anymore.

Ichigo's heart surged with pity.

Muramasa had been dealt a bad hand in life. He'd been a powerful zanpakuto spirit that had just so happened to end up in the hands of a madman. He'd been used for evil, abused for no reason, and then tossed aside without a care in the world by his arrogant wielder.

"I'm sorry Muramasa," Ichigo said to the prone spirit, and his voice was heavy with sincerity, "I'm honestly sorry that it turned out this way."

The spirit shook its head, and then looked up at Ichigo with different eyes. Eyes that confused Ichigo. They still showed his pain, but they also spoke of remorse.

"N-no. I am the one who's sorry," The spirit struggled to say, and a second later it exploded in hacking coughs. Blood flew from its mouth as it did, and Ichigo realized he was choking on his own blood. The shaking wet coughs subsided after a few moments, and he looked up at Ichigo again, "I'm s-sorry."

Sorry? Ichigo blinked down at the spirit in confusion. Why was Muramasa sorry?

The spirit extended its blood covered unbroken hand, and tried to reach up to touch Ichigo's heart. His reach didn't quite make it, and his arm dropped a second later.

"I f-felt your heart. I felt your pain…You killed my master, and I-," his sentence was broken again by several more blood filled coughs, and he wheezed for a couple of seconds. Ichigo idly noted that the signatures were drawing closer, "I-I can only guess that Koga had s-something to do with your horrible p-pain…and he probably used me to do it."

The spirit looked up at him again with nothing but remorse, "And for that…I am so _very_ sorry."

Ichigo stared down at those eyes, and he heard the heartfelt words. The spirit wasn't lying. Muramasa really was sorry.

He reached down to grasp the spirit's unbroken hand, and he squeezed it.

"I-"

_Ichigo sprinted down the alleyway toward the signature of the zanpakuto spirit that was wreaking havoc across the Seireitei. He'd seen it before, earlier near the divisions, when it had killed several dozen shinigami in seconds. All of their zanpakuto's had seemingly turned on them resulting in a horrible massacre. Several had had their blades stabbed straight through their skulls, while others had turned to kill their fellow shinigami against their will. _

_Ichigo hadn't had the time to look away, and he knew the sight of them all dying so badly would haunt his dreams for many nights to come. _

_He blinked the still fresh image away and kept running. Renji suddenly appeared as he dropped out of shunpo, and he sprinted along beside him in a mad dash. _

"_You can feel it too right?" Ichigo asked with a sideways glance._

_Renji nodded beside him as they ran, "Yeah, it's up there alright, along with Ikkaku and Yumichika. It's strong too. Be careful Ichigo."_

_He nodded, the last tragedy too recent for him to make a wise crack at the pineapple, and they tore around several more corners at a dead run. _

_The two turned the final corner, and they both came sliding to a halt. _

_Two bodies, one bald, and the other with a mop of black hair, lay before them both. _

_The spirit floated several feet away from them next to a wall, and it looked over at them as they froze. _

_A twisted smile crossed its pale face, and it gestured at the dead bodies as it spoke, "Such is the fate of all you shinigami. I'll kill all of you. I'll free all your zanpakutos spirits, and you won't be able to stop me."_

_With that it vanished into the wall with a purple glow, and silence rang in the alley. _

_Ichigo stepped forward, and promptly fell to his knees next to the bald headed body. His shaking hand reached forward and gently turned the body over. Ikkaku's blank dead eyes stared up at him as his head rolled on a loose neck along the bloody paved ground, and Ichigo felt his heart quake and then shatter. Overwhelming pain surged through him, and he bent at the waist to cradle Ikkaku's head close to his chest. His shoulders shook as he wept. Renji fell to his knees a second later, and he too grasped the dead body of Yumichika and pulled it into him in a clinging, shaking hug. _

_They'd been too late._

_They'd lost them both. _

_Ichigo's tear filled eyes blinked open as he glanced at the gaping wound in Ikkaku's neck. His sword had stabbed straight through, and he looked over to see the still bleeding wound through Yumichika's back. He'd been stabbed through his spine. Yumichika didn't even have his blade drawn._

_Ikkaku had been forced to murder his own best friend, and then had been killed by his zanpakuto seconds later. _

_Absolutely unforgiveable. He wept harder. _

_He would never forgive this. Never._

Ichigo's grip on Muramasa's hand tightened. Ichigo met the eyes of the spirit again, and he drew in a shaking breath that he exhaled a second later.

"I forgive you Muramasa."

The spirit's hand fell from his grasp as he let go, and it dropped to the ground with a thump. Muramasa had enough strength left to tentatively smile one last time before his other arm gave out, and he rolled fully onto his back with a rustle of grass. A few seconds passed before Ichigo's hand came down to rest on his unburnt shoulder.

"Now…rest easy."

Muramasa's eyes fluttered as his vision darkened, and then he lay still. He vanished in a cloud of purple reishi a few seconds later. Ichigo's hand fell through it, and he retracted it in a clenched fist.

Unlike Koga, Muramasa had died well.

Ichigo stood then, and wiped the rain from his face with his empty hand. Shiro made no comment from his inner world despite his own animosity toward the now dead zanpakuto spirit. Even his maniacal hollow could recognize a good death when he saw one.

Ichigo turned around with a rustle of feathers, and faced the captain commander, the Kuchiki captain, and another pair of unseated officers. All four of them had their blades drawn and at the ready.

Ichigo let his black blade of energy disperse, and he raised a hand in greeting.

"Yo."

The group shared glances before the captain commander took several steps forward with Ryujin Jakka still drawn and inquired in a demanding tone, "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

Ichigo huffed an infinitesimal laugh, and he wasn't even surprised that that was the first thing out of the old man's mouth. It seemed he was always gruff and straight to the point even five hundred years in the past.

Ichigo jabbed a thumb in the direction behind him to point at the dead body on the ground, "I came to take care of that idiot. He's dead now by the way. You're welcome."

The small group stirred at his words, and the two unseated officers behind the senior captains started gossiping quietly. He paused to consider the situation before continuing.

"As for my name," Ichigo crossed his arms and shook his head, "Sorry…not gonna answer that."

The Kuchiki captain made an angry huff of some kind, and made to move forward. The soutaichou's hand came up with a gesture to stop, they shared a glance, and the white haired captain subsided after a second.

"You killed Kuchiki Koga?" the old man asked in a somewhat disbelieving tone.

Ichigo nodded with his arms crossed, "Yep. He's dead. Very dead in fact."

The Soutaichou glanced at the body behind him, stared for a few moments before nodding, and then spoke up again while glancing at Ichigo's wings, "Tell me boy…what are you?"

Ichigo almost rolled his eyes. If he wasn't going to tell the old man his name what made him think he'd get anything else out of him?

He coughed lightly before answering, "That's my business, not yours. As far as you're concerned I'm just a random passerby, and don't mind the wings."

The Kuchiki was suddenly angry, and he snapped with a scathing tone of reprimand, "Watch your tongue _boy_. You are speaking to the head captain of the Gotei 13, and the head of the Kuchiki clan who is also the captain of the 6th division. How about you start showing us some respect?"

Ichigo cocked an eyebrow, and his temper flared. It carried in his tone as he growled back, "Oh…I didn't realize I was even talking to you. I thought I was having a conversation at sword point with Yama-jii here. So no Kuchiki, how about you shut up? I've had enough of that Kuchiki attitude for one night with Koga there, and he ended up dead. So maybe _you_ should watch _your_ tongue."

The unseated officers started gossiping more excitedly.

The Kuchiki captain's anger roared to life, and he almost made to move forward and confront Ichigo. The Soutaichou spun then, and he caught the captain's arm in his hand bringing him to a halt.

"Calm yourself Ginrei, I know you are on edge, but don't let his words bother you…we have no idea how powerful he is. He seems to have been able to kill Koga without personal injury, so tread lightly," the captain commander whispered to him with urgency.

Ichigo heard them of course, but they didn't know that. The shadows at their feet went completely unnoticed, since they were their own shadows. He felt his mouth threaten to smirk when the Kuchiki captain's eyes flashed up to stare at him again, and then he subsided once more with an even more wary disposition.

The Soutaichou turned back, and asked him another question, "Tell me young man. What are the wings?"

Ichigo scowled, "I thought I said don't mind the wings."

Yama-jii cracked open his eye, and stared at Ichigo with his best Yamamoto glare, "I asked you what they are."

Ichigo didn't even stir under the old man's gaze, far too used to it, far too pissed off at the other captain, and far too fed up with standing in the rain for so long to even be fazed by it.

"Fashion statement," he said with a straight dead pan, his face giving nothing away.

The old man's eyes narrowed. Ichigo still didn't react. They stayed like that for several more seconds.

The excited gossiping grew louder.

"Listen," Ichigo eventually said while uncrossing his hands, finally done with the situation, "I don't really care what you think, or even what you do Yama-jii. Honestly, at this point in the night I really just don't give a shit. I took care of Koga for you, and as far as I'm concerned my part has been played. I didn't want to be around when you showed up anyway, but Koga's zanpakuto needed to be tended to. I didn't sign up to be fucking interrogated, and I'm not one of you shinigami that you can just boss around," Ichigo vanished for a moment to rip his katana from the tree he'd embedded it in, and he appeared once more with it now sheathed, "So…I'm leaving. Have a good night."

A shadow started rapidly gathering beneath his feet, but Ginrei surged forward again with his hand outstretched, "Wait!"

Ichigo paused, sighed explosively, and then answered him, "Didn't I just say I was leaving? What the hell do you want?"

Ginrei's arm dropped, and then to Ichigo's surprise the captain sheathed his blade. He put his hand up in a placating gesture, and then inquired in a soft tone.

"I just have one more question before you go. It is in regards to Koga."

Ichigo looked at him, and assessed the captain for a moment. He hadn't really paid much attention until he'd pissed him off earlier, but now looking at him he got a better read. He had strong reiatsu, definitely captain level, and it was heavily controlled. A glance at his face confirmed him as the man he'd seen in Ukitake's office about a year and a half ago. He remembered seeing the Kuchiki there, and he was still wearing that scarf of their clan.

His expression gave Ichigo pause though. It confused him for a few moments, but a small realization cleared his dubious thoughts. Koga and this man were obviously family in some way, and Ichigo had just killed him. He may have gone bat shit crazy, but they'd no doubt still been close in some way. He probably wanted closure. Ichigo could understand that.

"I'm listening."

Ginrei looked relieved that he'd wait, but a somber cast fell over him in the next moment. He gestured at Koga.

"How did my son-in-law die?"

Son in law?

Shit. He'd killed the captain's son-in-law.

In light of that, Ichigo immediately felt kind of bad for snapping at him earlier. The guy probably hadn't been upset at Ichigo really, just tense and high strung with the whole situation that had unfolded upon their arrival. Ichigo's presence, and Koga's apparent death, had probably put the captain on edge to an abnormal extent.

He answered back in an understanding tone, "Are you asking me how I killed him, or…?"

The captain shook his head, "No. I'm asking you how he died. Did he die with honor?"

Ichigo closed his eyes, and clenched his fists. He turned away then, showing the gathered shinigami his back. He didn't want them to see his face when he lied.

"Yeah," he said quietly with a slight nod that they saw, "…he went down fighting."

The shadow at his feet suddenly stretched, and Ichigo sank into it with a blur. He left the battlefield behind him, along with the captains.

He needed a reprieve from all this.

Another vacation sounded nice.

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><p>Yamamoto had stopped listening to the black haired man as soon as Ginrei asked his question.<p>

Instead, he busied himself with deciphering the reiatsu signature that coated the area. He'd felt it on their approach, and it was one of the reasons why they'd picked up the pace so much. His senses had been screaming warning at him ever since he'd gotten close, but up until that point he hadn't exactly had the chance to take a look at it. The situation hadn't looked pretty for a moment there after all, and despite Koga being dead he'd thought there might have been a battle anyway. One that they weren't prepared for.

He closed his eyes to examine it closely. It was heavily muddled with Koga's own, and the reiatsu was like a mix of different types, but he identified a part of the mix bare seconds later.

It came to him in a flash. His eyes shot open, and a word repeated in his mind like a recurring nightmare.

Quincy.

He'd opened them just in time to watch as the strange winged enigma vanished into a pool of gathered shadow, like a man sinking rapidly into water. The shadows cleared seconds later, leaving an empty area of thrown dirt and grass.

A Quincy?

That man's signature was that of a Quincy, of that he had no doubt, and that wasn't all either. It was vaguely familiar as well. A memory came to him abruptly, and danced just beyond his reach. A signature that was similar to this, and yet lacking the Quincy bloodline.

It hit him seconds later.

The signature was the same as the one from the clearing almost a year and a half ago. He'd only had one encounter with it, and then only briefly, but it was so unique that he couldn't help remembering it. That same signature was here, a mix of hollow and shinigami, although now it possessed a Quincy tint too. It was evenly balanced with the other two now, but he could definitely recognize it.

Another second ticked by, and with it another realization. Those wings weren't entirely foreign to him either now that he thought about it. Back during the Quincy war all those centuries ago, the enemy had used an item known as the sanrei glove to boost their powers exponentially. He'd fought against several of the glove wearing Quincy, and all of them had used a last ditch technique that caused them to have extremely large amounts of power for a short time. Never enough to best him of course, but still very powerful in their own right. Each time they'd used it there would be a single wing of energy that shot from their backs glowing and always differentiating in color.

This man had two, and they weren't made of energy. However, his gut told him that they were connected in some way. He hadn't a clue how, but they were.

He still didn't have any damn answers though. Just a gut feeling, and _another_ impossible reiatsu signature.

The man was gone now, and he'd said it himself any way. He couldn't get any answers from him just by asking, and he couldn't interrogate him without capturing him first.

He now knew what he looked like at least. Red eyes, and long black hair. That would help in the search. He'd speak with Satoru on that later.

The fact that he could kill Kuchiki Koga however did give him pause. He already knew that the man could defeat a captain in both speed and hakuda. Koga had been said to have the power of a captain in his own right, and although he lacked bankai his zanjutsu was still extremely powerful even by Kuchiki standards. To die by that man's hand meant that the mysterious assailant possessed extreme skill in zanjutsu as well.

The winged man was a shinigami, possessed hollow abilities to an extent that they didn't know, and now had some form of Quincy abilities as well.

This enigma was rapidly painting a picture of his skill set. One that Genryusai could appreciate, while also not like. He was ridiculously strong, of that he absolutely no doubt.

Whose side was he on though?

Ginrei abruptly crossed the field and approached the downed body of Koga, and Genryusai trailed after him after a few more moments in thought.

Ginrei came to a stop before the body. After a moment of observation he shrugged off his captain haori, and then he carefully draped it across the dead body of the young man. He knelt there and grabbed Koga to scoop him into his arms, and the hoisted him up in a gentle cradle. He didn't turn back to face Genryusai.

He glanced back at the two shinigami who had accompanied them while carrying the seal's halberds, and he gestured for them to take their leave. They both bowed, before grabbing their equipment and taking off back toward the Seireitei. Ginrei wouldn't want to be seen like this.

Yamamoto took several more steps forward before laying a hand of Ginrei's back.

"Come Ginrei, we must leave this place. His body needs to be taken care of, and that can't be done out here in the rain."

Ginrei nodded, but didn't speak for a time nor did he turn to leave as was suggested. He kept silently standing there, and Genryusai was willing to stand there with his captain. It was the least he could do, especially at a time like this.

After several minutes of standing in the rain Ginrei spoke up abruptly, and his voice was heavy laden with emotion, by Kuchiki standards at least, "I apologize Soutaichou, but I would like to request some time away from my division. I must do penance."

"Of course, it is granted…but explain."

Ginrei glanced back at him, "I made a mistake Soutaichou. I can't help but blame myself at least partially for Koga's fall. I swore that as punishment I would force myself to personally seal my own daughter's husband away with my own hand, but…that chance was taken away from me. I must take some time to fast and think on my actions that led to this, so that it may never happen again. My daughter also needs consoling, so I need to be there for her. I'm sure you understand sir."

Genryusai nodded, "How do you want to handle this going forward?"

Ginrei thought about it for a few more moments before replying, "I'd appreciate it if you kept it between us Soutaichou. Give my family and I time to come to terms, and for my daughter to grieve before anything official needs to be done."

He nodded again, "Of course Ginrei. Now let us go…we shouldn't continue to stand out here in the rain like this."

Ginrei nodded once more, and he took off with the body held close in his hands. Genryusai was left behind, and he lingered a moment longer to examine the now empty clearing. He started with surprise when his gaze found something sticking out of the tall grass several yards away from where the body had been. He slowly ambled over to it, and identified it on approach as a katana's hilt.

He bent down and picked it up, and upon examination realized it was Koga's own. The circular yet pointed tsuba was definitely the mark of Muramasa. The zanpakuto whose power even gave him pause.

The blade was broken, and he looked down into the grass to see shards of the metal laying there. He closed his eyes to delve into the remnant of the blade with his reiatsu, trying to feel if the spirit yet lived despite its master's death.

Nothing. Empty.

He opened his eyes again to look at the dulled blade.

Muramasa was indeed dead.

He turned away, and then tucked it into his robes as an afterthought. He'd give it to Ginrei later. Now that it was harmless, he felt comfortable giving it back to the Kuchiki clan. It belonged to them anyway.

He took off in shunpo leaving the clearing behind him. He wanted to get out of the rain already, and he had a lot on his mind that needed to be addressed. The mysterious winged man being one of the more prominent things.

He hoped Chojiro was still awake. He needed a cup of tea too.

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><p>Satoru swept into the open, spacious room with Tindra on his arm. The lights of the ballroom glinted overhead, and they shined off of her long purple hair. She was decked out in a beautiful light blue kimono with a floral pattern down its side, and he wore his family's traditional golden colors along with their crest on each side of his chest. The ballroom was relatively packed, and the sounds of haughty laughter, the chatter of gossip, and the clinking of glassware could be heard throughout. It was a huge gathering of nobility from every clan, and pretty much all of the clan heads were expected to be in attendance. Naturally, as a clan head Satoru had needed to come, and Tindra had graciously accepted his invitation to be his date.<p>

However, this night wasn't meant to be one full of fun for either of them. Satoru didn't really care for this particular party, or its significance. He was only here for one reason.

Tindra leaned into him, and whispered into his ear, "Who are we looking for again?"

Satoru turned his head to glance down at her, and then whispered right back, "We're looking for Rōrensu Shiba. He's the Shiba clan head."

She nodded beside him tentatively, and then asked another question, "And what does he look like exactly?"

"Tall, bald, bearded…goofy," he whispered back, trying to not attract any attention from the Central 46 informants he could spy scattered amongst the noble families. Naturally, he knew who each of them were, and he tried to give them all a wide birth as the two of them meandered through the party.

Eventually Satoru spotted the bald head of Rōrensu amongst the sea of people, and he carved a path for him with Tindra right beside him. He came within earshot, and heard the tail end of a joke that he didn't understand. The group of people laughed, and Satoru realized a moment later that they were all Shiba family members. He wasn't surprised of course. The Shibas got along with practically anyone with their natural ability to befriend every single person around them in a unique way each time. Satoru was convinced that if a Shiba really tried, they could manage to drag a decent conversation out of a boulder.

However, at social gatherings like this they tended to stick together. The other noble clans weren't as lax of they were, and the Shibas found parties like this too stuffy for their tastes. They didn't hold anything against anyone, but at the same time their gregarious attitude was a bit odd to the other families.

Satoru for his part found their company to be the best no matter the circumstances. The Shibas knew how to have a good time, and every time they had a party he always went even when it wasn't required. They were just that awesome. He'd stumbled home practically comatose several times from those outings.

He weaved into the group, and was immediately met with rounds of sincere greetings. He didn't recognize some of them, but they all knew him and they were all happy to see him. He was definitely welcome amongst them on any given day. The Shihouin and the Shiba clans had always been close.

He traded jokes with a few of them while Tindra watched on in amusement, and he shook hands with practically all of them. He pulled her in and introduced her to them, and they all greeted her with a scattering of happy hellos, unexpected bear hugs from the women, and plenty of welcoming smiles. They were like that. If you were a friend you couldn't receive anything less than a warm welcome in their midst. Eventually they settled, and he managed to pull Rōrensu away while the bald clan head was still laughing at another joke.

The man trailed after him at his gesturing, one half confused and the half somewhat drunk, and they eventually found themselves in an alcove that was well away from the party. Tindra showed up seconds later, and Satoru gestured for her to keep an eye out.

Rōrensu stepped forward with concern on his expression, "Satoru, what's wrong my friend?" he gestured back the way they came, "Why'd you lead me away like that?"

Satoru didn't say anything immediately in response, and he shared a glance with Tindra. Rōrensu grew more alarmed by the expression he no doubt wore. This wasn't going to be a good conversation.

"Satoru, should I be worried? The face you're making isn't a good one. Tell me what's going on."

Satoru's mouth open and closed as he tried to think of what to say, and then he stepped forward instead to grasp Rōrensu's hand tightly.

"If you want more information my friend, you'll need to stop by my office two nights from now at midnight. It is too dangerous to speak here, and I can't visit your compound. Don't speak of this encounter to anyone either. Do you understand?" he whispered to the confused Shiba in an urgent tone.

Rōrensu stared at him in alarm for a few moments before nodding his understanding, "Y-yes Satoru. Not a word, I promise, and I'll be there."

Satoru nodded, and then turned to leave. He wrapped his arm in Tindra's and he steered them back the way they came. As they were about to turn the corner to rejoin the party, a glance back saw his friend staring down at what he'd placed in Rōrensu's hand. The bloodied Shiba handkerchief that he'd held onto from the Oda compound.

He'd kept it from being destroyed with the rest of the evidence, and now it was enough to catch Rōrensu's interest.

Something's needed to be made right. They were friends after all, and he couldn't betray his friend like that just because Central said so. Those old geezers wouldn't have their way with this one.

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><p><strong>Author's note continued: Okay everyone, there is one of the abilities of Mugetsu Vollstandig. Nasty isn't it? I wanted to stay in touch with the whole shadow travel thing, and how Ichigo is a quincy while also like the polar opposite of a quincy. Those guys claim to be like "warriors of light" and stuff, while Ichigo's always been associated with the color black. Practically everything about him has been black except for his hair and his shikai getsuga tensho. Like for real. <strong>

**Anyway, sad news everyone. I warned you about this a chapter or two ago, and now humanity has received a grim reminder about it. School is upon us. I start classes again next Monday, and I'm driving up tomorrow. For the rest of this week I'm going to be ultra busy, which means no writing, and then next week I'm going to be starting classes which means I'm still going to be ultra busy. You get the point. I'm going to be unavailable for a little while since college always comes first, but FEAR NOT. The show will always go on, and you all can give me a shout anytime either here or on tumblr. Between now and the time I start writing again, I'll have cooked up some seriously crazy plot twists and stuff that you all will absolutely hate me for. **

**A lot of you are guessing Yoruichi and some of you said tatsuki. Like freaking 20 or 30 of you have. Do you guys want that or something?**

**Lol.**

**By the way, Ichigo's vollstandig is mugetsu, but at the same time not the final getsuga tensho. They are two different things, that share a similar appearance. **

**I could be wrong here guys, but I'm pretty sure that old man yama only knew of the sanrei glove, and the wandenreich actually improved on that concept and turned it into the vollstandig as a evolutionary step. It didn't exist during the original Quincy war, but if I'm wrong well...so sorry. **

**Coldblue: It wouldn't be inaccurate to assume that I couldn't exactly not say that there is or isn't any chance that the woman might in fact be in your list. I'm possibly, more or less, definitely rejecting the idea that in no way with any amount of uncertainty that I undeniably do or do not know if she shouldn't probably be in that list, if she indeed isn't where she isn't. **

**White seagull are in agreement everyone, Could someone please please please draw ichigo's Vollstandig. That would be awesome, and I'd love you forever. **

**Hope everyone enjoyed it. Please leave a review if you feel like it. I have to thank all of you so far for giving me nothing but positive feedback that made my heart smile. I love all of you, and I'm like Yhwach in that sense. I write my story giving out my horrible soul, and as each of you dies reading it I get a little bit of my soul back through your reviews. **


	12. Sudden Clarity

**Disclaimer - I do not own anything from Bleach**

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><p>Warnings: AU, Time Travel, Ichigo-centric, violence, language<p>

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><p><strong>Author's note: BOOM! Hello Everyone! Guess who is back! Sorry it took so long to get this out there. I had hoped to get this published a lot sooner, like last week sooner, but...things. Thanks to Garrus and everyone else for everything once again. Anyway, more at the bottom, you know how it goes. Hope you enjoy!<strong>

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><p>Chapter 12: Sudden Clarity<p>

"What on earth is going on Satoru?"

He frowned mightily as the Shiba head sat down in front of his desk while drawing back his hood, and Rōrensu stared at him with a concerned look.

He glanced down with his overwhelmingly tired eyes at his hands, and the frown never faltered.

He had been dreading this secret meeting ever since he'd scheduled it.

He gestured with a hand to dismiss the Onmitsukido that he'd had escort Rōrensu. He reached over to grab the file sitting on his desk, flipped it open, and slid it over toward his friend. He watched with rising anger and heavy sadness as Rōrensu slowly read through the information he'd managed to save and compile for this very meeting, and the expressions flashing across the Shiba clan head's face made his heart sink even further.

His eyes strayed, and he looked out the nearby window at the night sky. Rōrensu finished reading, and his hands shook as he grasped his seat in a white knuckled grip.

He didn't know what would happen now.

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><p>An unending stretch of silence hung over the trio as Shunsui strolled down the street alongside Jushirou and Retsu. They'd met along the road all heading toward the 1st, but they hadn't deemed to speak even upon their meeting. Neither of his two fellow captains ever generated much fanfare when together, especially Retsu, but solemnity was heavy with both. It was obvious that words weren't necessary here, or maybe they weren't satisfactory.<p>

He propped back his sakkat to look up at the sky only to have the view obscured by grey clouds. It was a dark overcast, and it looked likely to rain. It was fitting he supposed. These were dark days they'd found themselves in, and all three of them were expecting bad news in the meeting they were heading for.

He neglected to fix his hat, and his eyes lingered absently on the passing district. The streets were practically deserted right now. A few of the shops were still open, the bars for example, but apart from that there wasn't really anyone out and about in the Seireitei. Most of the unseated officers were either out in the field surveying the damages to the districts, in their divisions quietly lamenting, or actually in the few open bars grieving in a different way. With the war over, the collective exhale heralded the follow up inhale. The air that inhale bore carried a new scent. Different from fire and blood, and it settled deep in the chest like a long, strangling sickness.

The rebellion hadn't been pretty, and the post war effects were showing. He'd caught himself many times over the last few weeks forlornly thinking about all the losses in his own division.

He tried not to think about it. He didn't want to. Who would? However, at the same time it was hard not to notice how practically half of his squad was gone. How half of the formations were staggered. How the training platoons had gaping holes in the lines empty of fresh graduates when they practiced in the yard.

How there was a mass of spirit particles that could be seen along the horizon, glinting in the retreating sunset every night. Spirit particles that hung like a cloud over the east, south, and west from all the dead men and women out there who were slowly decomposing. All of them slowly releasing their collective essence to drift away into the atmosphere.

He _couldn't_ keep from thinking about it though. Not in the sense that he couldn't stop himself from thinking about it if he wanted to, but that as a captain it fell to him to think about it the most out of everyone. It was his duty. His responsibility. He had letters to write. Letters telling those poor kid's families about how he'd lost their sons and daughters when they'd been under his command. That was of course for the kids who actually had families. Some of the poor youngsters didn't even have families to begin with. He'd had to do it many times before of course, but that didn't make it any less painful.

He'd been finding it increasingly difficult to put on his mask of joviality of late. His heart wasn't in it anymore. He couldn't act that way, nor would it be right for him to. The majority of his recent drinking wasn't entirely for the sport of it either.

He absentmindedly kicked a rock along the dirt street as they walked, and then sighed heavily without stirring his counterparts. Dark times indeed. The good days were far behind them whilst simultaneously far off it seemed, and grief was all they had before them.

His heart went out to Tindra-chan, and Kirio-chan. Those two were their newest captains after all. They'd been around for a while of course, relatively speaking, several decades for Tindra with about 6 or 7 years for Kirio, but neither of them had faced a conflict such as this before. It probably hadn't sunk in fully for them yet, or at least it was probably starting to right about now.

He'd probably drop in on both of them to give them a bit of a sit down, and he'd drag Retsu and Jushirou along with him too. He knew they'd have some sleepless nights going forward. On a side note he wasn't too concerned about Satoru. The Onmitsukido wasn't the type to fight on the open battlefield anyway, so their losses probably weren't that severe, and Satoru dealt with death constantly as it was.

He paused his thoughts for a moment to ponder that. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't actually seen Satoru recently. The guy was naturally untied to their normal dealings as a whole, but the last time he'd seen him was at the party several nights ago. He'd be at this coming captain's meeting of course, but despite the war being over he seemed really busy.

Eh well, it wasn't his business. Satoru could take care of himself anyway.

"Shunsui?"

He blinked while glancing up, and was startled to see that they'd already reached the 1st division steps without him noticing. Jushirou was ahead, glancing at him in confusion, and Retsu was already heading for the door naturally paying neither of them any mind.

He laughed sheepishly while scratching the back of his head, "Eh-heh, sorry Jushirou. Lost in thought," he explained with forced joviality, and he stepped forward heading for the door.

"Come on," he said in passing with a nod of his head, "Let's get this over with."

Jushirou sobered again while nodding in turn, and they breezed into the 1st side by side. They passed through several puzzlingly empty halls, and managed to catch up with the still gravely silent Retsu before they finally made it to the Captain's meeting room. A soft knock and a following glance was met by a group of familiar faces, all equally grim, and all staring at them.

Kyoraku immediately noticed, to his fleeting chagrin, that they were the last to arrive. Even Kenpachi made it before them, and considering how he was hardly there in the first place that was somewhat embarrassing. Although…he'd been showing up a lot more recently for some unknown reason.

Eh well. At least he was there. No need to look too closely at that.

Jushirou's face colored lightly in embarrassment when all the eyes of the other captains turned to stare at them, but he and Retsu paid it no mind. Shunsui didn't really care. He was in no rush to hear bad news anyway, and Retsu could be serene even if the world was ending. They took their places while Yama-jii gave them heavy looks, or mainly him a heavy look, and a passing awareness told him that he'd probably get a stern talking to about being late next time he saw the old man. That thought was lost in the next second as his full attention was turned toward Yama-jii as the Soutaichou tapped his zanpakuto against the floor to signify the beginning of the meeting.

"I have called this meeting as the first of many that we will hold in the coming weeks to review and discuss the damages caused by this rebellion," he began in his rumbling ancient tones, "As you all know, the Rukon districts are in a severe state of disrepair even in the closest areas. We've seen damages as near as in the mid tens to twenties in the south, and something must be done. Before that however…we will address the loss of life. Shihouin-taichou, please step forward and give your report."

Satoru took a step out of the line before shuffling the papers in his hands, and Shunsui immediately noted that the young taichou looked more haggard than normal…concernedly so in fact. He shared a brief look with Jushirou before coming to a silent agreement. They'd have to look into that later. The Shihouin head brushed some of his more wayward hair out of his face before coughing to clear his throat.

"I'm sure you've all noticed…but we have suffered a great loss in manpower since the beginning of the rebellion. Before the war began we commanded a force near 6000 shinigami strong within all of the branches and divisions. Throughout the war, the initial number of deserters steadily climbed from its original 800, and eventually led to roughly 1,300 shinigami abandoning their posts to aid in the rebellion."

Hushed whispers popped up from several of the captains out of surprise, and Satoru shuffled some papers again before speaking up.

"That loss cut the Gotei 13 down significantly, and then in the following months we sustained heavy casualties. The rebellion's fighters were all people who had originated in the surrounding districts, so it was essentially their turf. They knew the land far better than any of the Seireitei loyalists, and the Rukon citizens who helped were the same. As a result of that, and because of the ambush/hit and run tactics the rebels used, we lost far more than they did before the end came."

More hushed whispers could be heard, and Shunsui nodded along in morbid understanding. It made sense, though it wasn't exactly something he enjoyed understanding. They had outnumbered them, and most of this information was already known. How many had died though? He only knew his own division's headcount thus far since he had to submit a roll sheet to the 9th.

The majority of him was dreading the news however. He really didn't want to hear it, but at the same time he did. It appeared the rest of them shared that same sentiment since they had ceased their whispers and were waiting with bated breath.

Satoru flipped through his papers. His expression immediately soured even further, his gaze darkening, and he spoke up again in an almost dejected tone, "So far, the accounted losses comes to 2,971 shiniga-"

Satoru was cut off then. Unable to finish his sentence as the entire room exploded in abruptly startled noises, and then dissolved into shocked exclamations and concerned amazement. Confused questions and angry declarations were made between fellow taichou, and the lieutenants shared more subdued outrage behind them. For the moment, Yama-jii made no attempt to quell the cacophony.

Jushirou stared openly at Satoru before glancing at him with wide green eyes. He shared an uncomprehending look with his best friend for a bare second, before he shook his head whilst tuning out the ruckus from the clamoring captains. He clenched his eyes shut, and his hand drifted up unnoticed to grip his tachi with white knuckled tension. His sakkat did well to hide his expression.

Shunsui's lip twitched.

3,000 shinigami lost.

So that was the number. He was right. He really hadn't wanted to know.

He had no words. No words could possibly express his overwhelming shame, his undercurrent of barely subdued anger, or his horrid rising sorrow.

He didn't think there was even a word for the situation they'd now found themselves in. The closest word he could come up with was catastrophe, perhaps even calamity, but at the same time those two felt too soft.

What were they going to do now? Was that even a question that could be asked?

They already had an issue with covering all of the living world's spiritually rich areas, and the Rukon districts on top of that. How the _hell_ were they supposed to do their jobs with only half of their former strength? It wasn't like shinigami recruits were coming out of the woodwork. Their growth as a whole was stagnant. It didn't lower, but it also didn't increase.

Every year they'd receive a fresh class of graduates from the academy, but those kids weren't strong enough to do the job they were needed to do. The Academy taught the kids "the basics" in six years. _Six_. That was it. He and Jushirou had had centuries with Yama-jii as students before their instructors even thought about letting the first class of the academy graduate. The kids that were pumped out now had to spend several of their first decades in the Gotei still training while simultaneously going on missions just because they weren't ready.

They'd lose them there of course. The fresh graduates were needed for missions, but they weren't fully prepared. They'd die out there, and it would only repeat. It was a vicious cycle. The Academy was always pushing to get out as many kids as fast as possible into the Gotei to recoup the losses, and that resulted in increasingly poorer and poorer education. Every generation it got worse.

Now this. They'd lost half of their entire body. What would they do? Shorten the training time? Streamline more of the classes? Lower the standards to allow more passing graduates?

A heavy grimace formed un-beckoned on his normally cheerful face. He could see clearly _exactly_ where they were heading. He couldn't stop himself if he wanted to. He'd seen it coming for years, but now it was going to become a reality. The slope was getting steeper, and all these years they'd never really stopped slipping.

Now it seemed they'd completely lost their footing.

He doubted anything short of the Reio himself intervening would be able to save them now.

* * *

><p>He had been summoned, and he had a feeling he knew why. The thought made him grimace.<p>

The sound of the clacking of his geta resonated off of the walls and pillars as he headed further into the central structure. Long sheets of hanging cloth was all that caught his attention in the sparsely decorated central chamber, but above him he could feel his Lord's presence.

It was hard not to when he was so close to the source. No reiatsu could be felt of course, but at the same time there was a quality to him that made him impossible to miss…or perhaps he'd just been around him for too long. He supposed that was always a possibility. He was really getting on in years, and he hadn't left his Lords side in centuries.

When he thought about it, it'd probably even been millennia. He'd long since lost count of the years though.

He ascended the final steps to the inner chamber, his white haori dusting along behind him as he slowly climbed, and upon reaching the top he was greeted by a startling sight.

He hadn't expected his Lord to be fully awake from his slumber, let alone out of his self-imposed confinement, but there he was. He stood across the room from him, back turned, and his very presence made the reishi thick air around him shimmer like heat rising from a desert.

This was important then.

He bowed low, and he did not rise as he spoke, "You summoned me, my Lord?"

The Soul King made no move to address him for several seconds, deeming instead to look down at the medium sized bundle lying on the ground at his feet. Eventually, he gestured for Ichibē to stand, and his black sclera and strange pupils found the monk as he turned to face him.

"**Indeed I did, Ichibē," **the Soul King replied, **"Come, I have a task for you."**

The voice seemed to reverberate within the Monk's soul, shaking him and setting him off balance with its qualities, but his long term of service and circumstantial practice allowed him to shrug off the effects. The Reio gestured with a hand as he turned away once more, and a suddenly inquisitive Monk moved forward to join his Lord before the bundle. For a moment Ichibē had no idea what it was, but then the Reio stooped down to pick up the wrapping of cloth and then he realized it was a small body. He almost made to question further, but then the wrapping fell away from the top, and Ichibē's words died in his throat.

He stared openly at the face of the child in the Soul King's arms, and he made no move to speak. He couldn't even form a question.

"**This,"** the Reio said calmly whilst turning toward Ichibē, the child still in his arms, **"Is plan "B" Ichibē."**

Ichibē was silent as he stared uncomprehendingly for a few moments, but eventually he seemed to hear the words. He recovered with a light cough, and then turned confused eyes on the Soul King.

"Plan "B" my Lord?" he asked quietly, silently wondering how this was a plan.

The Reio inclined his head, **"Yes…You know of what I speak."**

Ichibē nodded as well. True enough. He couldn't say that he wasn't expecting something like this…or well not _this_, but something. Plan "A" hadn't worked very well, what with the idiotic child having gone rouge and then being struck down, and with the rebellion that had gone on down there a part of him had known his Lord would take action.

Doubts crept up on him regardless.

He glanced down at the child once more, and the sight made him somewhat question his Lord's decision. He knew he shouldn't, but without knowing the facts he was at a loss. The sight before him was an unexplained impossibility, and his unschooled expression must have given him away because his Lord spoke once more.

"**I see you've noticed the likeness hidden beneath the numerous other differences."**

Ichibē nodded whilst still staring at the child, and he was content to wait for his Lord to speak. He wouldn't ask, for he knew the outcome of such a thing. Ask his Lord questions and he was less likely to give answers.

"**He **_**is**_** me…Ichibē."**

A suffocating silence permeated the air for several minutes, and the twisted smile of the Soul King made his stomach churn.

What game was he playing?

"You can't be serious."

The Soul King chuckled ominously in response, and then promptly dumped the child in his arms with little fanfare. Completely lost at this point, Ichibē took turns staring wide-eyed at his Lord first and then the impossible child second.

"**I'm very serious Ichibē, but you have little to fear. I know what you are thinking. He does not know, nor will he ever know of his origins. He is as capable as I am, just as cunning, but also severely limited in comparison to me…and he is a blank slate aside from the prime directive that I have given him."**

The Soul King turned away then leaving that information to hang in the air, and he stalked across the dimly lit room with his hands behind his back. He eventually came to a stop at the other end before a wide window. The view showed the entirety of his personal realm stretching before him, and all of the little islands of cities and palaces floated beyond. His slicked back brown hair didn't budge an inch in the wind, and his unnatural eyes stared down on the world of his creation.

A sadly flawed creation.

Ichibē clacked across the room to stand a few feet behind him, and the question left his mouth before he could stop it.

"Prime directive?"

The chilling smile he received in response would have routed a lesser man, but it was worth it when his Lord surprisingly answered him regardless.

"**I have given him a task, vague though it might be," **the Soul King looked away again, and he pointed down at the child without looking,** "I have imprinted on his soul the burning desire to right the wrongs of this world. I am unable to do so with my own hand, as I am needed here…but he can do so in my place. He must discover the problem, and it is his duty to solve it. Do you understand, Ichibē?"**

He really didn't, but before he could reply the haze set in and the Soul King immediately began heading for his confinement.

"**Take care of it Ichibē," **the Soul King said over his shoulder**, "Set him free, and let him do his work. Beyond that there is nothing left for us to do but to observe."**

He nodded, but he asked one more question. Indifferent to whether he received an answer or not since his Lord was desperately needed elsewhere.

"And if he should fail?"

All at once he was pinned by an incredibly cold stare. No emotion was to be seen within his Lord's eyes as he stood half in and half out of his prison. They stayed like that for about a minute, the haze increasing right alongside Ichibē's nervousness before his Lord spoke one final time.

"**I have seen another child. Not clearly, as that ability of mine was mostly stolen away by the other, but there will be one. Should this one fail, then **_**he**_** will not. Soul Society **_**will**_** change, and it **_**will**_** be rebuilt before his might."**

With that the Reio sank completely into his repose, and within a moment the haze vanished entirely. His Lord was asleep once more, leaving Ichibē still entirely confused and holding an entirely confusing child.

He looked down at the wrapped up boy in his arms, and his hand came forward to brush aside the locks of hair shadowing his forehead. On an impulse his hand then went to the child's eyelid and upon peeling it back he saw that there was another stark difference between him and his creator. The unseeing brown eye of the still unconscious boy stared back at him, and he noted that it was entirely normal.

His curiosity grew in him, but he held it in check. His Lord would have told him more if he needed to know. He would do his duty, nothing more, and then he would return to his palace to take up his position once again.

With that, the Monk turned on his heel and clacked across the floor to begin his descent. He'd dump the child somewhere within the rukongai. If what his Lord said wasn't a lie, then that would be all that was needed of him.

He made one final glance at the child's face, taking in his features, before he wrapped him up again within the cloth.

He heaved a sigh as he left.

Hopefully plan "B" wouldn't turn into a disaster like "A" had.

* * *

><p>The hues of gold glowed off of the surface of the world. The setting sun, like a dying flame, lightly seared the surrounding woods and grass. Green grew into yellow, and the trees were given new life just as the day came to a close. The gently caress of the wind rustled the leaves on high knocking a few loose, though due to the onset of spring far more remained firmly held, and they cast their shadow down in a fleeting, shifting shade. The short grass made no noise even as they bent, but the higher grass closer to the creek's edge did whistle in a barely perceptible tune. The loudest noise of all came from the hushed undertone of slowly flowing water down in the creek. The light reflected off of its surface, turning the small waves a blinding white in random intervals, and the water lapped gently against the banks.<p>

A picturesque description of calm serenity. Undisturbed, unmarred, and entirely beautiful.

However, the one man present was blind to its splendor. He initially chose the site for its allure, but now his task carried him away to a different place.

There were no trees here, nor was there a sun. In the emptied plane of his mind there was only darkness and sound waves of color. His eyes saw nothing, but his soul heard the hues of his reiatsu. A fathomless, unending, mute void. Like an ocean with no horizon.

Being barren of thought was an intrinsic part of meditation, and he was doing well thus far. However, he couldn't shake the feeling that rose in his throat every other second, even as he tried to push it down. A chilling sense that buzzed in his ears just like when he'd forgotten something important, but couldn't remember its necessity.

He wasn't alone. He was being watched.

Something was there with him…something he knew. _Someone_ he knew. Like the presence of his mother standing in the next room just out of sight, or when he knew that within an hour he'd see a dear friend that had gone away for a year. That rising excitement that coursed up and down his spine. He wanted to find it for reasons he couldn't explain, and that desire tugged at him sharply in a way he simply couldn't ignore.

Words came unbidden, but what he was meant to do with them he didn't know. He kept hearing them regardless. The seas and heavens were unfamiliar and frightening territory…

A name was what he wanted. Her name was what he _needed_.

"What is it? Tell it to me?"

….

"_I will not tell you something you already know." _

The voice. A voice he knew so well, but a voice he didn't have a clue about. Like hearing a song you'd heard years before, but failing to remember its name.

"I know it?"

He got the sudden sense that the disembodied voice he'd been chasing all this time was slightly miffed.

"_Of course you do…and I grow tired of this."_

Textures. Sounds and feelings and both known and unknown qualities. Decidedly female, but something beyond that. Like the sound of running water flowing into his mind, running through his hair, over and under his fingertips, before finally down into his heart to fill it with overwhelming recollection. A feeling different from déjà vu, but still similar in nature.

She was right…he did know her name.

"_Of course I'm right, and you should know to not keep a woman waiting."_

It flowed off his tongue as though he'd known it his whole life. From long practice that never existed he whispered a name. The most important name he'd ever know.

"…Nejibana."

A smile. Gentle and detached. He couldn't see it at first, but its blinding brilliance was soon all he could see. Possessive, clutching fingers curled into his hair, winding tight and pulling him in, and soon he was encompassed in the embrace of an ocean of power.

"_Yes…I am here Kaien."_

* * *

><p>"<em>This again eh?"<em>

_Ichigo glanced sideways as a ragged Shinji sauntered over, Sakanade sealed and leaning against his shoulder. The blond came to a stop beside him, and both stood high atop a sand dune with the moonlit field of battle stretching out before them. The wind whipped around them, pulling at Ichigo's ragged, bloody shihakusho, and tugging on the torn human clothes that Shinji still wore. _

_Down atop the sand hundreds of shinigami clashed with the hollow army that Aizen had brought to bear on this particular evening, and Ichigo scoffed at the words of his fellow Visored. _

"_Hmph…yep, and the way I see it there's hundreds of them down there. Think you can handle this many, old man?"_

_Shinji huffed a laugh while reaching up to adjust the eye patch over his blinded right eye. A wound he'd received courtesy of Aizen himself. _

"_Dunno," he answered with his trademark Kansai accent and a sideways grin, "Might be tough if one more shows up."_

_Ichigo looked back down on the field as a cocky grin tugged at his mouth, "Ha…Then that'll be the one I take care of."_

"_Oh?" came the mock surprised question from somewhere off to his right, "You're fighting too?"_

_A halfhearted swipe of his sword sent the Visored leader dancing away laughing just out of reach, and Ichigo scowled good-naturedly at the jab._

"_You're full of shit Shinji…now come on. Let's go. It's our rotation, and they're expecting us."_

_The exiled captain chuckled lightly, but then nodded as he suddenly grew serious. Both turned toward the raging battle, and all humor died in them._

* * *

><p><em>Ichigo blasted through the swarming ranks of hollows like tissue paper, and the sight of him obliterating the oncoming enemy caused the surrounding shinigami to rally with a cheer. Off to his right he could spy several of the other captains going at it just like he was. Shunsui was over there just beyond his sight along with Byakuya and Kenpachi, and he could see random explosions and clouds of cherry blossom blades in that direction. To his left he could feel the majority of the Visored, and in front of him…<em>

_His eyebrow twitched._

_What the hell was Shinji doing out there?_

_He frowned as his katana tore straight through the chest of another hollow cutting it clean in two, and with spin that kicked up a cloud of sand he decapitated a humanoid arrancar that came at him from the rear. _

_Shinji was way out of line. He'd broken formation, although he seemed to be fairing fine at the moment. He couldn't go out there to get to him yet or else risk abandoning the surrounding shinigami to certain death. _

_Ichigo frowned harder a second later when he sensed something else that didn't feel right. Jushirou's signature was suddenly out near Shunsui, and Yoruichi was amongst the ranks to his left. Their double turncoat Gin was out, and so was Komamura…and Kurotsuchi? _

_Why were there so many captains out all of a sudden? Why were they abandoning the rotation? Surely there wasn't any…_

_Oh shit. _

_Ichigo blasted into shunpo a second later cleaving through as many of the surrounding hollows as he could in his mad dash to get away and to Shinji's aid. The Visored leader's reiatsu had just pulsed, and a moment later Ichigo had felt him._

_Aizen had made an appearance…and it felt like Shinji was making a bid for his former lieutenant's head. The bloody fool. _

"_SHIT!" he cursed loudly as more hollows turned up to come screeching at his fellow shinigami, and he angrily realized that it wasn't going to be enough. _

_Only one thing to do then. The others would be pissed later, but he didn't care. To him this situation qualified._

_He shunpoed forward into the midst of the oncoming wave whilst simultaneously slamming his right wrist over his left, and he screamed even louder over the deafening battle._

"_TEAR THE SKIES ASUDNER! ZANGETSU!"_

_The shinigami that he'd left behind were blasted off their feet and over the dunes by the sudden explosion of black reiatsu, and the hollows that Ichigo was in the midst of disintegrated milliseconds later. The roiling black energy shot across the sand in an expanding explosion, but Ichigo was already moving before it had even begun to dissipate. _

_He needed to move. Shinji was already going at it with Aizen, and the other captains were converging on the battle as well. Shinji wouldn't make it alone, they all knew it even if he didn't want to accept it, and they couldn't just let him die. _

_Ichigo desperately shot high into the air in a powerful leap that cratered the sand he left behind. He soared through the night sky, flipped once, and then plummeted into a downward lunge. He brought his two swords together behind his head with a clang of metal. He erupted with power in his descent, and his body lit up the night sky like a meteor come to wipe out all life. With as much power as he could possibly pump into his blades he screamed to the heavens as he swung both down with all his might. _

"_GETSUGA TENSHO!"_

_The cataclysmic crescent of energy tore from his shikai blades, and in the blink of an eye made contact with the ground far below. Right into the middle of the seething army of hollows._

_The initial impact was entirely silent. A sound so high pitched and loud that normal hearing couldn't even process the sheer volume. The blinding light that accompanied it however was all too apparent. It blocked all sight, searing a white wall into everyone's retinae._

_Then, just like raging lightning before crashing thunder in the sky, the sound finally came after. _

_The sound of the explosion and the weight of Ichigo's reiatsu drove many to their knees, shinigami, hollow, and arrancar alike. Those were the ones to far from it though. _

_As soon as the light finally dimmed enough, the explosion was finally seen. _

_A dome of energy, raging and gargantuan, far reaching and absolutely overwhelming rocked the very foundation of Hueco Mundo. Half of the hollow army disintegrated in the blink of an eye, and blasted sand melted into compressed glass in nanoseconds. That glass shattered even faster, firing shard like bullets every possible direction in a shower of gore, and the explosion went ever on. The shockwave raced like a ring across the sand knocking both armies off of their feet, and whole banks of sand like small tsunamis were thrown in an expanding circle that dumped small mountains of sand on hundreds of confused, panicked combatants making them cough and cry out in fright. _

_The crescent never stopped. It kept drilling, forcing its way deeper and deeper into the heart of the desert before it blasted clean through into the Forest of Menos leaving a gaping wound in the landscape. The crescent hit the ground floor of the forest…and the resulting detonation came. _

_Like an explosion in a mine shaft, the energy of the getsuga raced throughout the cave network below the surface like a bullet train, and in the center where the initial breach occurred an atomic bomb went off. It tore upward, shattering the energy dome, and cleaving through the nighttime clouds to tear the skies asunder in a reality breaking flare of color. _

_The fabric of reality shook threateningly._

_Ichigo paid it no mind for he was already moving once again. _

"_AIZEN!" he screamed, and he tore through the night faster than anyone could comprehend to slam bodily into the madman from over a mile away. A sonic boom was left in his wake as he completely shattered the sound barrier, and he torpedoed the megalomaniac. The white garbed madman was knocked sideways to pound into the sand below, and Ichigo almost made to tear through the new cloud of blasted dirt to gut him before he abruptly stopped._

_His eyes widened at the bloody sight down on the ground. _

"_Shinji!"_

_With a now buried Aizen momentarily forgotten, Ichigo shunpoed down to the sand to grab the downed Visored. He pulled Shinji to him with a shake that caused the last shards of his pharaoh-like hollow mask to break away, and the ex-captain stirred after a second. _

_Shinji coughed weakly in his arms, and his eyes fluttered open to focus on Ichigo's face with apparent difficulty. He stared uncomprehendingly at him for a moment before his left arm moved and reached over tentatively to touch the bleeding stump that his right arm had been reduced to. He looked down at it, looked at his blood soaked hand, looked beyond it with a half morbid half imperceptive gaze to see his severed limb lying on the sand, and then up at Ichigo again. _

"_Looks like one more showed up."_

_Ichigo closed his eyes in annoyance while huffing a dry laugh. _

"_You're a fucking idiot…don't go anywhere. I'll take care of him."_

_Shinji waved his still attached hand almost flippantly, adrenaline obviously still so rampant in him that he couldn't feel the pain yet, "Hey, don't be callin me an idiot, it was a very thought out move."_

_Ichigo cocked an overwhelmingly incredulous eyebrow. _

_Shinji scowled under his look before adding, "Shove it brat, now go. I'll stay put…can't really feel my legs anyway."_

_Ichigo relented while nodding, and promptly dropped Shinji unceremoniously onto the sand resulting in a squawk of affront from the blond moron. He grabbed his shikai blades, and then shunpoed forward to look down into the crater that Aizen had been blasted into. A few seconds ticked by with no reaction, and Ichigo's practically non-existent patience dissipated. _

"_I know you're in there asshole. Get out here and fight me."_

_Another few seconds passed before an arrogant voice rose out of the still hanging dust cloud, "Come now Ichigo Kurosaki, must we?"_

_Ichigo scowled at the mocking tone, "You're damn right we do, now quit hiding."_

"_Tsk tsk…no patience. How about a change of pace? I have an offer for you, and I'm sure you'll want to hear it."_

_Ichigo's ability to put up with Aizen's bullshit was seriously reaching its breaking point, but he answered anyway, "You're an idiot. What could you possibly have to offer me?" a random thought occurred to him a second later, "Don't tell me you're surrendering? Because if you are then no. I'm going to kill you regardless of what you have to say."_

_Haughty yet insane laughter carried out of the hole, and suddenly Aizen appeared in a flash of light across the crater from him using his weird form of teleportation. _

"_Very funny Ichigo Kurosaki…but no. The only surrender that will ever happen will be the Gotei 13's, and that's actually what I'm here to offer you. Surrender to me now, and I will spare not only you, but all of your little friends as well. I have no desire to wipe out the Gotei 13, but since you all deem to stand in my way I simply must."_

_Ichigo's scowl morphed into perplexed amusement, and he hefted his larger blade onto his shoulder as he answered, "Pfft, are you kidding me Aizen? You really are insane…and the answer is obviously HELL no."_

_Aizen closed his eyes, and smiled almost sadly in response, "A pity, and here I had hoped that I wouldn't have to slaughter you all along the way to the Soul King. How foolish."_

_Ichigo's infinitesimal amusement vanished, "Foolish?! You're the fucking fool here Aizen. You're the one who wants to take on the Soul King for crying out loud! I can't even figure out why the hell you'd want to do that, you bloody psycho!"_

_Aizen shook his head, and he became more animated the longer they talked, "Psycho? No Ichigo Kurosaki. I am the only sane one here! I am the only one capable of seeing what the afterlife has been reduced to, while all of you are entirely blind! The absence of the Soul King has caused the afterlife to fall into ruin, and I have to fix it! The crown slips from heads unworthy. I will kill the Soul King, and I WILL wear the crown, and I WILL turn the afterlife into the paradise it was meant to be!"_

_Ichigo completely snapped. He really hated this guy, and every time they talked he always managed to snap at some point. _

"_AFTERLIFE?! IS THIS WHAT YOU CALL AN AFTERLIFE?!" he screamed while gesturing around at the utter destruction surrounding them, and at the warring armies that had resumed their battle, "HAVE YOU EVEN SEEN WHAT YOU'VE TURNED THE SOUL SOCIETY INTO?! DON'T YOU DARE SPEAK TO ME OF A PARADISE YOU PIECE OF SHIT! YOU'VE KILLED TOO MANY PEOPLE, RUINED TOO MANY LIVES, AND CROSSED TOO MANY LINES TO EVEN TRY AND BECOME SOME FUCKING SAINT!"_

_Aizen laughed in the face of his rage and climbing reiatsu, and he answered with an entirely crazed look in his eyes, "You have to cross the line just to remember where it lays Ichigo Kurosaki, but of course I can't expect a pathetic human child like yourself to understand that! It's a shame too! With your strength, you would have made a wonderful soldier if you had just bowed before me."_

_Ichigo's eyes narrowed into ridiculously pissed off slits, and he blasted into shunpo swinging his blade down to try and cut the madman in half. His blade met nothing but air however as Aizen vanished in a flash of light to appear some distance away. _

"_Ah ah ah, Ichigo Kurosaki. I will not fight you here…for I plan kill you last, right after I've killed everyone else you care about. Besides," he called with a smile of sick, twisted amusement, "I believe you have someone else that needs your attention. I expect that my pitiful former captain has finally realized what's wrong…perhaps you should go to his side. After all, no one wants to die alone."_

_He vanished again in another flash of light, and the last thing Ichigo saw was that manic smile etched on his enemies face. _

_He paid it little mind, because one look back at Shinji forced the image from his head. _

_Oh no. _

_He shunpoed over to the Visored leader and grabbed him by his front to shake him as he knelt beside him. _

"_Shinji! SHINJI!? CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"_

_He shook the blond again roughly, and once brown eyes cracked open to look at him with a new shade of straining red and grey. He coughed with a gurgling sound, and a mixture of vomit and blood dribbled out of the corners of his mouth as he did. Ichigo immediately realized what was partially wrong, and with a powerful punch he hit Shinji square in the chest, shattering several ribs as he did. With an explosive rush the vomit that had clogged his airways spewed out of him and onto the sand, clearing his throat passage and allowing him to breathe again. Wheezing, pained gasps followed, but Shinji's eyes started fading again despite that. Ichigo started to panic. _

"_Shit shit shit shit shit…Shinji!" He slapped him, "Shinji! Don't go to sleep on me motherfucker! Stay with me!"_

_There was a tiny bit of movement but no real response, so still panicking, Ichigo slapped him again. Hard. _

"_SHINJI!"_

_The blond recoiled from the slap, and he seemed to regain some of his higher functions as his eyes opened and found Ichigo again. Ichigo's hands reached up and grabbed the blonde's head on either side, and he started talking to him to keep him awake._

"_Oi! Talk to me Shinji! Stay awake, and talk to me!"_

_He glanced at the his stump of an arm, and used one hand to prop Shinji up and the other to started pumping healing kido into the wound. At least in an attempt to slow the blood flow before they got him back to Unohana. He could at least keep him alive until then. _

_Shinji started getting more animated, giving Ichigo a bit more hope, but the sad yet pained smile along with the Visored's next words almost killed that hope. _

"_Heh…it's no use kid. I'm already dead. Don't go wastin' your time Ichigo."_

"_The hell are you talking about idiot? You better shut your damn mouth, or else I'll hit you again. You're not fucking dying today."_

_Shinji scowled as he attempted to shrug off Ichigo's healing, "I thought I said not ta call me an idiot, brat…and I'm serious. There's nothin' ya can do…now lay off."_

"_Shinji…what are you talking about?"_

_Ichigo was getting worried with the way his friend was talking. Shinji never acted like this, even when he'd had his face split open and lost his eye a year ago. Had Aizen said something to him during their fight? It was practically impossible to get under Shinji's skin, but if it could happen then Aizen was the one to do it. Maybe he had lost too much blood…he could be getting delusional from the loss of-_

"_He poisoned me Ichigo. His blade was coated in one of his concoctions, so quit wastin' your time."_

_Ichigo's control on the kido instantly snapped, and he turned horrified eyes on his friend, "No! That's…That's bullshit! I don't care if he poisoned you Shinji, you're not going to die out here, I won't let you," he attempted to use his kido again, "I'm going to get you out of here, and Unohana-san can heal you! I'm not going to let you die until after we win this fucking war, do you hear me?!"_

_Shinji chuckled dryly at his words, and his eyes lazily drooped as he answered, "Pfft…sorry kid…but I think this war is already lost. It was lost a long time ago," his remaining hand came up and grabbed Ichigo's halting his desperate healing, "But listen Ichigo…listen ta me."_

_Ichigo yanked his hand back and slapped it harshly against the wound again to reapply the kido, "NO SHINJI! QUIT SAYING SHIT LIKE THAT! GODDAMNIT NO-"_

_Shinji punched Ichigo square in the jaw dazing him for a second, and then his palm grabbed the back of Ichigo's neck roughly to make him look at him, "Shut up Ichigo! Now listen ta me would ya! Please!"_

_Ichigo steadied barely, but he failed to respond. Shinji didn't care, "Fuckin listen ta me, ya have ta promise me somethin'. Promise me ya'll live through this Ichigo. SWEAR ta me that ya won't throw your life away."_

_Ichigo stared at him unblinking for a second before he answered, "What the hell Shinji?! We're not gonna lose! I'm going to kill A-"_

_Shinji gripped his neck harder, "Not what I'm sayin' Ichigo! I'm sayin' that if things go pear shaped ya get out. Don't throw your life away for shinigami business…you're a strong kid, but you're still just a kid. A kid that shouldn't even be fightin like this. Now, ya promise me!"_

_Ichigo stared uncomprehendingly for a few seconds before he answered, "No shinji I-…I can't do that. I won't run."_

_Shinji heaved a labored sigh, and clenched his straining red eyes shut for a moment in an apparent attempt to regain his fading focus, "Che-of course ya'd say that. Should have known that you're too think headed...alright…just-just promise that ya'll stay alive then. Promise me that ya'll make it til the end."_

_He coughed weakly at the end of his sentence, and blood started dripping out of his nose. _

"_I promise Shinji, but quit acting like you're about to die! You're gonna make it until the end too-"_

_Ichigo's panicked words almost went unheard from Shinji's now bleeding ears. Shinji started fading rapidly, "Heh, you're a good kid Ichigo. Still got faith in us old folks."_

_More blood started dribbling out of his mouth. _

_His grip on Ichigo's neck grew too weak, and instead he reached over and patted Ichigo's cheek clumsily. He worked his jaw as he tried to keep speaking, "Y-you're a good kid…a good kid. Don't ever forget that-" _

_He finally choked on his own blood, cutting off the last of his sentence, and his face grew ever paler. Ichigo started screaming at him to stay with him, but Shinji couldn't respond. His body shook violently as it tried to cough up the blood, but there was too much. With an immense display of self-control he managed to get his body to stop its racking shakes, and his shoulders relaxed as he forced himself to go still. _

_Ichigo's tears splashed against his cheek as he reached his end in his arms, and Shinji looked up at Ichigo one last time. He smiled a bloody smile as he passed._

_Ichigo lost another._

* * *

><p>Ichigo jolted awake with his eyes wide, and then cursed loudly in surprise when he slammed his forehead straight into the wooden balcony he'd been sleeping under. His horrid thoughts momentarily shattered, he rolled sideways along the bending thatched roof rubbing his searing forehead, and he growled in anger as he glared at the offending building next to him. He glared up at the sky next, pissed off and aware that someone up there was probably looking down at him and laughing.<p>

How typical.

Now completely awake he glanced around, and he realized with an even fiercer scowl that the sky he had been glaring at was still a night sky.

He growled audibly, he hadn't even slept through the night then. How annoying. He guessed that it wasn't really that unexpected, but it was still bloody annoying.

He gingerly scooted back to lean against the wall behind him, careful to remain on the roof's beam under the thatch, and reigned himself back in as best he could. He drew in a deep breath to calm himself, still aware of the blood pumping in his ears from the dream, and the overwhelming scent of rotting trash, smoke, mud, and manure filled his nose making him grimace. It reminded him of one of the mid-districts in the Soul Society. His ears picked up noise a second later, and he peered inquisitively over the edge of the roof he was lying on to look down into the…bustling streets?

He scowled in confusion. He'd gone to sleep late, and by the time he had the townsfolk were all practically asleep so why were they out and about again?

"_It is still early evening Ichigo," _Zangetsu supplied in a humorous deadpan, "_You did sleep through the night, and then the following day as well." _

Ichigo blinked owlishly at that revelation, and then coughed lightly in embarrassment while scratching the back of his head. He shrugged mentally next. It didn't matter he supposed, he was on vacation so sleeping through a day wouldn't hurt.

"_What do you intend to do?"_ Zangetsu asked as he scooted closer to the ledge and prepared to jump off.

'Dunno, I kind of want to have a look around? We are in London, and while I've always wanted to come here I've never actually had the chance.'

He'd been happy to discover upon reading the signs after coming here that the date was in fact 1572. Meaning that he'd been wrong about 5 centuries, and instead only had about 4 and a half. It was still a long time, but about 50 years less was a small weight off of his back.

Zangetsu nodded within his soul at his idea, but then picked up in a warning tone, _"Very well, but do try not to catch anything while you are here though. There is no modern medicine here, and we do not want to end up like Ukitake-san." _

'We have instant regeneration,' Ichigo deadpanned in response, and Zangetsu quieted for a few moments.

"_It is always better to be safe than sorry, Ichigo." _

Ichigo rolled his eyes, and then hopped off of the roof to plummet to the street below. He fell several stories, slowing himself as he went, before landing with a light thump in the back of an empty horse drawn wagon. The wagon driver spun with a confused start to look back at him, but without spiritual awareness his gaze swept right through him.

They rattled on for several yards, and Ichigo started picking up snatches of heavily accented English all around him. He knew the English language fairly well, it was what he'd studied in high school just like practically all the other kids across japan, but his love for English literature had been what really spurred him on to learning it fully. Some of the slang went over his head, but he understood the vast majority.

He was going to put that hard work to good use here. He might even be able to catch a play.

Ichigo grinned at the thought. This vacation might actually be fun.

* * *

><p>Ichigo scowled. This vacation was rapidly becoming not fun.<p>

To his annoyance a hollow had popped out of a garganta literally thirty seconds after he'd jumped into the cart. It had probably been attracted to him releasing his reiatsu during his nightmare or something, and he'd killed it with a severely underpowered byakurai in the very next second. However, that one attack had been enough it seemed.

Because now someone was following him.

Someone in the _human_ _world_ was following him.

He'd surreptitiously glanced about several times to try and see if there were any other shinigami or hollows around, but he hadn't seen or even sensed anyone. He felt eyes on him though, long practice gave him a sort of 6th sense for it, and now he was wound tight just from the feeling alone. He couldn't spot anyone within the thick crowd staring at him, but he knew they were there. He'd tried to semi-hurriedly leave them behind, but no matter how fast he walked they kept pace and even seemed to draw closer.

He could have just shunpoed away of course, but while half of him was annoyed the other half was intrigued. He was curious, because if what he was sensing was true then it wasn't a shinigami or hollow that was following him. It was a human. A human that could see him.

A human that who like him, or at least a human who was like what he used to be.

An idea came to him in the next moment, and he waited for about a minute for the person to draw close enough to probably see him. They came close, as far as he could tell, within at least a couple dozen meters, and just as the crowd thinned minutely he took off down a back alley to turn down another two connecting ones. He skidded to a stop right around a corner, planted his back against the stone wall, and waited.

About a minute ticked by before he heard running feet as someone came jogging down the alley, and a tired exclamation was heard as he drew close.

"_Dannazione_…_dove diavolo è quel tizio_?" the accented voice said with an exasperated sigh, and the person slowed down from a jog as he approached his position. He was dumbfounded for a moment at the foreign language, momentarily thinking it to be Spanish. He knew some Spanish terms, you didn't run around in Hueco Mundo for long without hearing them, but this sounded different.

The footsteps grew even closer, and right as the person was around the corner Ichigo stepped out of the shadows.

"_Merda!"_ the man exclaimed, and Ichigo couldn't help the humor that rose in his throat when the guy stumbled backward in surprise, even going so far as to scramble away.

"_Mio Dio! Mi hai spaventato a morte!" _the man said after he tried to recover, and he gestured avidly at Ichigo as he spoke.

Ichigo shook his head, and in his best attempt at English answered, "I have no idea what you are saying."

The man stared at him in confusion for a second, looking almost perplexed, before apologizing in English with an extremely, almost unintelligibly, thick accent.

"I apologize, I-I had assumed that you, as an angel, would be able to understand Italian. It appears that I was wrong."

Ichigo scoffed inaudibly. Angel? Someone was sadly mistaken. He shook his head and responded, "Good thing I'm not an angel then," the apparent Italian started in surprise at that, but Ichigo paid him no mind, "Now why are you following me?"

The stranger stared at him in confusion, obviously not knowing what to make of him. This conversation probably hadn't been what he'd had in mind when he'd followed Ichigo.

"Well I-..." he began uncertainly, "I was following you because I saw what you did earlier, and I knew you to be one of the ang-…other worldly beings that I have seen before. I'd thought that you were angels due to the situations I saw you in, but now…" he faltered there, his jaw working as he tried to think of how to continue. After a moment his jaw firmed, and he picked up again, "I need to ask a question, but none of those from before would ever answer me. You are the only one who has actually stopped and talked to me until now…so please help me."

He ended with an earnest tone, clasping his hands together as he did.

Ichigo crossed his arms, "I'm listening."

A smile pulled at the stranger's lips, though it could scarcely be seen in the dark alley. He made to speak again, but the sound of approaching feet and boisterous laughter heading toward them interrupted him. He faltered for reasons that Ichigo could identify with, although he'd never much cared back in his own time. He didn't mind a couple of thugs harassing him for talking to ghosts that no one else could see.

Ichigo cocked an eyebrow and supplied, "Better get it out quick, or else you'll be committed for talking to thin air."

The stranger looked back at him after he had glanced toward the noise, and laughed lightly, "I care not what they think of me."

His shadowed face showed insecurities despite his words, and his eyes strayed off to the side, "However…people are very superstitious of late what with the carousing of the Church. Not to mention uhh…" the footsteps and laughing grew closer, and Ichigo interrupted him, "We _could_ go somewhere else, you know."

The man's eyes blinked in surprise, like he hadn't expected Ichigo to actually offer such a thing. He stumbled over his words after a moment of stunned silence, "V-very well, if you would please accommodate me, I'd be happy to invite you into my home! We could talk in private there."

Ichigo nodded, "Lead the way, I'll follow from above."

The stranger smiled broadly, and grabbed Ichigo's hand to shake it vigorously, "_Gratsi Signore_, I owe you a debt. We will speak later then."

He let go of his hand just as the large group of apparently drunken revelers rounded the corner, stumbling this way and that, laughing all the while. With a nod the guy took off the opposite direction, and Ichigo trailed slowly after.

'Eh well,' he thought idly as the drunk men started brawling behind him throwing each other into walls and crates.

It was a sort of pleasant surprise, and he had nothing better to do.

He could sense Shiro rolling his eyes.

* * *

><p>Ichigo stared over at the massive building that the man had just entered across the street from his perch, and his eyebrow rose at the sight of it.<p>

Who exactly was this guy supposed to be? He either had an extremely well-paying job, or he just came from money.

Massive columns lined the front, and the mansion itself appeared modeled after some sort of ancient multi-story roman household similar to the ones he'd seen in history books. It was all rough stone and marble, hanging plants and decor, and it was uniquely beautiful. An ornate stone wall lined the property, and in all honesty the whole home just seemed out of place considering the situation. It was jarring in a way, to find a house like this in 16th century London, but what did he know?

He dismissed it after a few seconds of staring, and made for the door in the street below. He plummeted to the street again to land lightly before the double-door, and without missing a step pushed it open. The comical sight of several servants staring wide eyed at the door that had apparently just opened by itself was entertaining. He pushed it shut behind him, and he was almost forced to laugh again when the closest maid jumped in fright.

He passed them by, following after his new host and leaving the gathered servants to whisper in confused fright to one another, and he eventually found a cozy study on the top floor. He found the older man standing by the fireplace rifling through a cabinet, and after a moment he rose holding what appeared to be a wine bottle in his hand fitted in some sort of basket.

Ichigo assessed him now that they had light from the fire. He was tall and thin he noted, and almost as tall as him which was impressive in its own way. Long black hair sat atop his head, and was swept back behind his ears before gathering into a small tied ponytail. The rest of the loose hair fell and was gathered at the back of his neck. Flecks of grey lay within it, but he didn't appear old or even really middle aged. However, truth be told Ichigo couldn't really tell his age. He had a timeless face. It was handsome, but it didn't really show age. He could be 30 or he could be 50. His one most distinguishing feature though was his larger nose. It wasn't grotesque in anyway, but it was definitely more defined, just like his jaw.

He was dressed in an oversized deep red buttoned shirt that was fashioned in a style that fit the times, judging from paintings he'd seen at least, and he wore an under shirt with large sleeves frilling out at his wrists. Black pants tucked into his leather boots were belted to him, and around his neck rested a single golden chain with a circular locket. A flash of gold in the firelight clued him in to the wedding band on his hand, but apart from the ring and locket he lacked any other jewelry.

His host poured two cups full of red wine and passed one to Ichigo as they took their seats across from each other, and his host inclined his head with an exaggerated hand gesture.

"I appreciate you allowing this…words can't express," he gestured at himself, "My name is Raphael Diamante da Verona, and you are…?"

"Ichigo," he supplied as he settled further into his chair. His gaze flickered between the man and his drink for a moment before he took a sip of the wine. He grimaced after a second at the strange tasting alcohol. He'd never had wine specifically before, and the sour taste was entirely different from the familiar burn of sake…a taste that he was somewhat ashamed to admit how used to he'd become. He lowered the cup, before turning eyes on his host.

The Italian, now named Raphael, tilted his head lightly in confusion, and he gestured vaguely with his hand, "Uhh…Just Ichi-?

"Yes," Ichigo interrupted with a frown, setting his cup down and resting his hands on the arms of the chair, "Just Ichigo…you had a question?"

The man abruptly let it drop along with his hand, smoothly rolling with the flow of the conversation. He rose, and swiftly crossed the room to look out the window at the late night moon. His heavy sigh carried over the crackling of the fire, and he sipped his drink with his back still turned.

"It is about my wife," he began quietly, "I intended to ask you about her…but now I don't know if you can give me an answer."

He cocked an inquisitive eyebrow despite already having a feeling about where the conversation was going. His heart sank at the thought.

"Your wife?"

Raphael nodded, still staring up at the moon, "Si…my wife," he stared into his cup, swirling it slowly, "I lost her several years ago. To the fever. I was away at the time, fighting the French, and I wanted to uh…"

He trailed off, allowing the unfinished sentence to hang in the air, and Ichigo frowned down at his hands.

He wanted closure. Ichigo closed his eyes tiredly, of course he did.

He sighed, "Ask your questions…" his host looked back at him surprised, "I will try to answer them as best I can."

Raphael stood confused for a moment, "But you said that you aren't an angel."

Ichigo nodded as he rose to his feet, "That's right. I'm not an angel," he glanced sharply at his host from under his hood, "But I'm still capable of answering your questions."

The obvious follow-up question came after several more stunned seconds, "If you aren't an angel…then what are you?"

Ichigo waved a hand in a dismissively vague manner, "A shinigami, but I doubt that term will have any meaning to you…," his hand dropped and he stood pondering for a moment, "The closest thing I can think of in the English language would be a Grim Reaper."

The term hung in the air like a death sentence, and the fire seemed to grow suddenly colder. A second of silence ticked by, then another, and Ichigo hadn't turned back.

Raphael practically fell over.

"_Mio Dio!"_ he exclaimed as his cup almost fell out of his hands, and he backed up rapidly until his back hit the wall next to the window, "_T-tristo Mietitore!_ Oh Christ!"

Ichigo rolled his eyes at the panicking Italian, "Relax."

Needless to say, Raphael didn't relax, "O-oh _Merda_, y-you are the reaper of the dead!"

"It's really not a big deal."

"_Salvami Madre!" _

In the next second the Italian abandoned his cup, slammed his trembling hands together with a clap, and he started praying out loud fervently.

Ichigo ran a hand over his face, and rubbed his eyes in annoyance. Shiro cackled.

* * *

><p>"Is she in heaven?"<p>

Ichigo's gaze flashed in the firelight to peer at him in his opposing seat, and his sharp eyes could be seen glinting within his hood. He stared hard at the human, and surprisingly the man didn't falter. Despite his earlier lengthy panic Raphael stared right back, unflinching, and Ichigo glanced down again.

His host needed an answer. He wanted one even in the face of what he now knew…but what could he say?

What a terrible question.

Raphael didn't know of course, but Ichigo knew just how wrong the question was to begin with. It was simple, but lacked the truth in its ignorance. There was no heaven. A fact that he knew, but would it be right to admit that? Would it be nice?

No. It wouldn't be nice…but it would be right.

Ironic.

He'd once felt disdain for Rukia's answer to a similar question. He'd never felt disdain for Rukia herself of course, annoyance, and even anger sometimes, but never disdain. Her answer had never suited him though. Now however?

He couldn't help what he was feeling now though.

He understood. When she grew up it had been a terrible life, and she knew just as well as so many others that there was no such thing as heaven. It was something everyone discovered eventually. Telling a lie in place of the truth was a gift though. Telling someone that they were going to heaven, or telling someone that their loved one had gone to heaven gave them something worthwhile, at least until the truth came out.

It gave them hope. Fleeting, wonderfully horrible hope.

The alternative was repulsive. Inside, he wanted to tell Raphael the horrible truth, but he also wanted to tell him a beautiful lie.

In the end, Ichigo had always been different though. He'd settle for the in-between if either choice didn't suit him. He'd make his own choice if he could.

"She _is_ in the afterlife Raphael…that is all I know."

It wasn't the truth, but it was no lie. He'd let the Italian draw his own conjectures…but he couldn't stop the grimace when his host seemed to sigh in happy relief and slight forlorn sadness, and the rising urge to leave almost overtook him when Raphael smiled at him and replied with an undeservedly warm, "Thank you."

The dark room and his hood was just enough to hide his heavy frown.

Abruptly, the door behind Ichigo opened with a creak, and a tired voice called out to Raphael.

"Mister Diamante, what are you doing? Who are you talking to?"

The Italian rose from his seat, and Ichigo glanced back to see a small brown haired child enter the room dressed in sleeping clothes.

"Ah, William. I'm sorry that I disturbed you. I was just thinking out loud to myself…no need to worry. Now please, go back to bed child. It is far too late for you to still be awake."

The young boy frowned sleepily, making no move to leave just yet, "What do you mean you're speaking to yourself? There is a man right there."

Ichigo started in surprise, and so did Raphael.

Well now.

Raphael recovered shakily, "Ah…yes. I-I was thinking out loud a moment ago, and also speaking with my friend here. We were discussing some business…again, sorry to have woken you. Now please, return to your bed."

The boy lingered, inquisitively glancing between him and Raphael with surprisingly perceptive eyes despite his young age, before he capitulated. He grumbled, "Okay, I'll see you tomorrow then," and he lightly closed the door. They were both silent until the sound of his feet padding away vanished.

"…Successone," Raphael breathed as he slowly sank back into his chair.

Ichigo had no idea what he just said, but the tone gave him a hint. He couldn't help but agree…that was surprising.

"Who was that?" he asked curiously after a moment, "Your son?"

The Italian shook his head, still somewhat stunned, "No…he is the son of a friend of mine who has come to stay with me for a while. I-…I had no idea that he could see you like I could," he laughed lightly in slight disbelief, "William is always full of surprises it seems."

He nodded in agreement, and he gestured at the closed door, "So he's just staying with you for no reason?"

Raphael looked at him fully, finally free from his surprise, and he shook his head, "No, I'm his tutor…his parents asked me to, as a favor," his expression soured in slight annoyance, but Ichigo could tell that it wasn't whole hearted, "But I know why they really asked me. They think they're doing me a favor by sending their son to get my thoughts away from my late wife's passing. It's entirely unnecessary…" he shook his head, sighing in tired compliance though, "But the Shakespeare family are like that I suppose. Always looking out for their friends."

He glanced over again to look at his guest, completely unaware of Ichigo's sudden state, and he smiled.

"Eh well, no matter I suppose…anyway, it is getting late. Would you like to stay the night?"

* * *

><p><strong>Authors note: Lol. <strong>**Oh yes. I just did that. All of that. Everything you just saw actually just happened. **

**First off I want to thank LiamG for their help with this chapter. Got to give credit where it is due. Thank you so much my friend for the ideas. Just so everyone knows, if you already didn't of course, LiamG is an accomplished author on this site who has some AWESOME bleach crossovers that you should all check out. Seriously great stuff. **

**Please forgive me...but can I just take a moment to say that I've broken 600 followers somehow, and I have never been this thankful in my life. Like you all are just so wonderful, and I really don't deserve this. I don't really know what to say besides thank you to all of you. **

**Anyway, please leave a review if you feel like it. I love them. Hope you all enjoyed it!**


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